Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story
by Aviation
Summary: Danger lurks at every turn for four ThunderClan kits called to help 8 Clans that are not their own. Cats young and old are plagued by great injustices and a lurking evil, and somehow, Skykit's destiny is to find a way to lead them - a way to to save them.
1. Allegiances and Prologue

**A/N: I left an author note on this chapter saying I thought the prologue was kinda sucky, and looking back, if it was sucky, why did I put it up? So here's a re-done version of the prologue, with allegiances. Note: Allegiances only include cats you may see in this story. There _are_ more cats. XD**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Clans, the naming system, or the idea for the Clans - that belongs to Erin Hunter. However, the eight Clans named in the prologue, as well as AirClan, are of my own creation, as well as the idea for my plot. Anyone can use cat names or Clan names from my work, but do not copy the idea. Any resemblance in my work to any other Fanfic, including names and plot, is purely coincidental and I apologize._

* * *

**Allegiances**

**ThunderClan**

Leader: Gingerstar – ginger she-cat with blue eyes

Deputy: Browntail – black tom with brown paws and a brown tail

Medicine Cat: Birdtalon – blue-grey she-cat with amber eyes

Warriors:

Smokeheart – dark grey tom with blue eyes

Apprentice, Yellowpaw

Spiderclaw – black tom with amber eyes

Apprentice, Rockpaw

Queens:

Dawnpoppy – golden and silver she-cat with green eyes (Silverkit, Stormkit, Rabbitkit, Skykit)

Elders:

Tornclaw – brown tom with a torn claw and dark grey eyes; blind

Swiftstep – grey she-cat with blue eyes

Apprentices:

Yellowpaw – yellowish-grey she-cat with blue eyes

Rockpaw – dark grey tom with green eyes

**RiverClan**

Leader: Brookstar – blue-grey she-cat with green eyes

Deputy: Darkfoot – grey tom with a black paw and blue eyes

Medicine Cat: Flowerheart – white and grey she-cat with blue eyes

Warriors:

Rivertail – blue-grey she-cat with green eyes

Apprentice, Redpaw

Gingerfoot – brown tom with a ginger paw with amber eyes

Apprentice, Flowerpaw

Queens:

Tallflower – grey she-cat with hazel eyes (Hazelkit, Bluekit, Foxkit)

Elders:

Poppytail – ginger she-cat with blue eyes

Foxpelt – ginger tom with blue eyes

Apprentices:

Flowerpaw – grey she-cat with blue eyes

Redpaw – reddish-brown tom with green eyes

**WindClan**

Leader: Flightstar – ginger she-cat with hazel eyes

Deputy: Longclaw - brown tom with very long claws and blue eyes

Medicine Cat: Birdflight - blue-grey she-cat with green eyes

Warriors:

Honeystep - golden she-cat with unusual chocolate brown eyes

Apprentice, Gingerpaw

Brownmask - brown tom with green eyes

Queens:

Specklepelt - white and gold she-cat with blue eyes (Swiftkit, Fishkit, Stonekit)

Elders: None

Apprentices:

Gingerpaw - ginger she-cat with green eyes

**ShadowClan**

Leader: Redstar - red-brown tom with green eyes

Deputy: Swiftclaw- grey tom with brown eyes

Medicine Cat: Yelloweyes - brown cat with yellow eyes

Warriors:

Hollytail - golden she-cat with green eyes

Apprentice, Talonpaw

Shadowtail - black tom with amber eyes

Apprentice, Blackpaw

Queens:

Brookfur - brown and grey she-cat with green eyes (Ashkit, Smokekit, Cinderkit)

Elders: None

Apprentices:

Talonpaw - brown tom with yellow eyes

Blackpaw - black tom with blue eyes

* * *

_Prologue_

**In the ThunderClan nursery...**

"Alright, Dawnpoppy, take a look," the aging blue-gray medicine cat whispered softly. She watched as the young queen turned slowly, grimacing, to look at her kits.

Dawnpoppy's dark green eyes widened. "They're beautiful," the silver and gold tabby purred.

A smoky gray kit was mewling softly when the low rumbling of distant thunder made her start. A light brown kit was sniffing intently, her nose twitching. One kit was stark silver, and was concentrating on poking a clod of moss with her paw. The last kit was white with gray blotches spread across her pelt, and she had an ear slightly cocked, as if trying to listen to the wind's chilling whispers.

Dawnpoppy seemed to light up. She gently nudged each kit towards her as she named it. "Stormkit, because you jumped at the storm. Rabbitkit, because your nose twitches like a rabbit. Silverkit, because you're nothing but silver. And Skykit, because your pelt looks like clouds in the sky."

**In AirClan, an ancestor Clan to a different set of cats…**

"_To keep them safe, we ought to have our descendents divide into eight Clans," a blue-gray tom meowed. "Four will be tom Clans and four will be she-cat Clans."_

"_There should not be one leader, but a council of three. It will make decisions run more smoothly, and it's hard to end up with three corrupts all at once."_

_Cats continued quickly, adding their ideas._

"_The healer should be called a medicine cat."_

"_Why not categorize each gender's Clans by fur color?"_

"_We should name the Clans after animals."_

"_What animals?"_

"_Well, are we trying to protect them? Or are we trying to help them escape?"_

"_Either is dangerous."_

"_Then how about the toms are WolfClan, FoxClan, BadgerClan, and BearClan."_

"_I see where you're going – the she-cats could be BirdClan, FishClan, RabbitClan, and SqiurrelClan."_

"_That sounds…actually, that sounds quite functional."_

"_But I think…"_

"_Alright, alright _alright_!" hissed the first speaker. "I haven't heard anything I disagree with. All for four she-cat Clans, four tom Clans, tom Clans named after hunters, she-cat Clans named after prey, organized by color, with healers called medicine cats and a leading council of three, meow in turn."_

_The voting took place quickly. The decision was unanimous._

**A/N: Hopefully that prologue worked a little better...**

* * *


	2. Kitnapping

_Previously, in __Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story__…_

Dawnpoppy seemed to light up. She gently nudged each kit towards her as she named it. "Stormkit, because you jumped at the storm. Rabbitkit, because your nose twitches like a rabbit. Silverkit, because you're nothing but silver. And Skykit, because your pelt looks like clouds in the sky."

**Chapter 2 of HPSS: Kitnapping**

* * *

Skykit's eyes followed her mother as the tabby paced back and forth worriedly

Skykit's eyes followed her mother as the tabby paced back and forth worriedly. She was wearing down the bedding considerably, but she didn't seem to care. _In two more moons, it'll be my job to clean out the bedding,_ Skykit thought. Finally, the kit mustered her courage and asked what was wrong.

"Gingerstar is allowing a rogue to stay with our Clan," Dawnpoppy meowed. "We caught him on our territory, but he said he'd never heard of the Clans and was just passing through." She paused. "His name is Shadowheart. Something about him makes me uncomfortable."

"Well if Gingerstar is letting him stay, there _must_ be some cat assigned to guard him, so don't worry," Skykit meowed, after thinking a moment. "And either way, one rogue can't do much harm – at least not by himself, right?"

XXX

As the sun slowly neared the horizon, Shadowheart was forced to listen to the chattering of the black tom Spiderclaw and his apprentice Rockpaw – the two assigned to watch him. Neither knew when to shut up. That was alright, though, and kind of helpful. When he'd asked, Rockpaw had told him exactly where the nursery was.

It almost too easy to distract the two – and it only took a second to triple-dose their fresh-kill with poppy seeds.

The two fell asleep shortly after the other cats in the camp.

So much for guarding him all night.

Shadowheart slipped out of his makeshift den and glanced up. It was nearly moon-high. _Where is that excuse for crowfood?_ Shadowheart thought, glaring venomously into the underbrush. A few moments later, a rich brown-colored tom slipped into the camp.

Shadowheart motioned with his tail to follow him. The dark black tom slipped silently to the nursery and pricked his ear, listening for anything that might signify a cat being awake. Hearing nothing, he slipped inside.

Only one queen had kitted lately, it seemed. The young mother was out cold, her four kits lying next to her – within easy reach.

"Bearclaw, take the silver one and the dark gray one," Shadowheart ordered. "Hurry up. Not that fast! Are you trying to wake the whole Clan up?!"

Seconds later, the two toms were making their way out of the camp, the sleepy kits dangling from their jaws. They both knew that as long as they could make it to the Thunderpath before any kit woke up, they would be home free.

Both were confident. They had, of course, done this before.

XXX

Skykit awoke to the sensation of pine needles against her nose. She sat up, confused Next to her lay her three sisters – and just outside the bush sat two very large, muscular toms. Slowly, silently, she nudged Silverkit. "Silverkit, wake up," she purred, her voice practically inaudible.

Silverkit sat up a little too quickly. She shook her head dizzily, and then froze. "Wait – where are we?" Her voice was quiet and tentative as always – in this case, a good thing. "What happened? Skykit?"

"Shh, I think we were kit-napped by those two cats outside," Skykit answered. "But shh, don't panic – don't worry. They're just talking."

Silverkit was trembling, her expression one of fear, but she stayed quiet as the toms spoke. The more wiry of the two, a purely black tom, seemed in charge. "We will follow the Thunderpath until Sunhigh," he said – his voice sounding just a little too slick. "Longtooth and Grizzlyclaw should be ready to meet us there."

"That sounds right, Shadowheart," a dark brown tom meowed.

_Shadowheart…I don't know any cat named – Wait! Shadowheart!!_ The name rang in Skykit's ears. _The rogue!_

The young she-kit strained her ears to catch the next words, but Stormkit and Rabbitkit, who had just woken up, made no effort to be quiet. The rustling sounds of the two kits' movements alerted the toms.

"Ah, the kits are awake, Bearclaw," Shadowheart purred.

Skykit backed up until she was pressed against the trunk of the pine tree. "We're not going with you," she spat as the two toms moved towards them.

"Think about it," Bearclaw meowed. "What choice do you have? You don't know how to get back to your Clan, and we wouldn't let you."

Skykit blinked. "Then tell us where you're taking us, and why," she demanded, sounding a lot braver than she felt.

"You are going to join a new Clan," Shadowheart purred.

"Yes," Bearclaw continued. "A she-cat Clan – BirdClan, FishClan, RabbitClan, or SquirrelClan."

"Hold up," Stormkit broke in, energetic as ever. "She-cat clans?"

"Of course," the brown tom continued. "We have four she-cat Clans and four tom Clans. The tom Clans are WolfClan, FoxClan, BadgerClan, and BearClan."

Skykit noticed Rabbitkit blinking and looking at her paws, but the light brown kit recovered quickly. "Uh…how do they mate then?" Rabbitkit's voice intensified. "Or do you just steal kits?"

Shadowheart sighed, as if Rabbitkit had just asked him the most obvious question in the world. "Once a season, there's what you would call a gathering. It takes place for a half moon, during which time the cats mate."

"Who are your leaders?" Skykit asked.

"Leaders..? Oh, you mean the council," Bearclaw meowed. "Each Clan has a group of three cats called the council, because our ancestors in AirClan found one leader to be inconvenient."

"We had better get going," Shadowheart said irritably. "Follow us. There is no use running away. We are too far from your camp, even if you did know how to get there."

Skykit blinked, annoyed at the logic. She sighed dejectedly. "C'mon, let's go."

As the kits moved out, following Shadowheart with Bearclaw walking several foxlengths behind them, Rabbitkit motioned to them quickly. The kits leaned towards her. "You guys," she purred softly, "I think something really weird is going on."

"_Real_-ly, like getting kit-napped?" Skykit meowed sarcastically, but stopped to listen.

"Think of the Clan names," Rabbitkit continued softly. "What do they start with? The tom Clans start with Wolf, Fox, Badger, and Bear. Hunter animals."

Skykit thought for a minute. It was true enough. She'd never seen any of the animals before – except a fox, once – but her mother had told her about them. "And..?"

"Now think of the she-cat clans. They start with Bird, Fish, Rabbit, and Squirrel."

Skykit blinked. Stormkit gasped. Silverkit looked worried. Rabbitkit didn't stop. "All of the she-cats are named for prey."

"Hey, get moving!" Bearclaw spat, and the four kits hurried up the Thunderpath.

Skykit couldn't shake the foreboding feeling that had a hold on her. What did the Clan names mean? She had no idea – but it _certainly_ didn't seem too good.

XXX


	3. Arrival

_

* * *

_

Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story...

Shadowheart sighed, as if Rabbitkit had just asked him the most obvious question in the world. "Once a season, there's what you would call a gathering. It takes place for a half moon, during which time the cats mate."

**Chapter Three of HPSS: Arrival**

* * *

At almost exactly sun high, Skykit saw two cats waiting by the side of the Thunderpath several foxlengths away. One was brown, like Bearclaw, and the other was black, like Shadowheart. Bearclaw greeted the brown cat as Grizzlyclaw and the black cat as Longtooth.

Neither looked particularly friendly.

"What Clan are you from?" Stormkit asked. "And why are all your pelts dark colors?"

"BearClan," Grizzlyclaw answered. "All BearClan cats are dark gray, brown, or black, just like all dark-colored she-cats are in RabbitClan."

Skykit noticed Rabbitkit studying the two new toms. "But suppose a kit is born to RabbitClan and the kit is light gray?" her sister asked.

Grizzlyclaw blinked, looking annoyed. "The kit goes to WolfClan if it is male and BirdClan if it is female."

"What about its birth clan?" Skykit meowed. Birth clan seemed to be everything in the four forest Clans.

"Kits are not born to Clans." It was Bearclaw who spoke this time. It seemed as though Shadowheart and Longtooth didn't speak unless they had to. "They are just kits. When they are apprenticed, they are assigned a Clan according to their pelt color and gender."

"What about us?" Rabbitkit asked. Skykit noticed that neither Stormkit nor Silverkit seemed eager to ask questions. "All our pelts are different colors."

"You will stay together until you are apprenticed, then you will each go to a different Clan."

XXX

"Here we are," Shadowheart meowed blandly. The six cats had been traveling off the Thunderpath for hours now, and finally, they entered a clearing surrounded by brush.

Bearclaw was ever ready with explanations. "Since it's the first moon of New Leaf, all the Clans have come together. From the new moon to the half moon, in the first moon of every season, all the Clans join here. It's a time for socializing, telling news, and mating. It's like a gathering that lasts for half a moon. This is our joined camp."

Skykit let her eyes wander around the clearing. She knew that there were about seventy cats in ShadowClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ThunderClan combined, and here there were eight Clans instead of four – and at least twice as many cats, maybe more.

"Where do we have to go now?" Skykit demanded.

Shadowheart regarded her with a cold eye. "You will come with us to Jagged Rock and our medicine cats will use the Bloodstone to speak with AirClan."

A beautiful golden she-cat padded up to them. "Hello, Shadowheart," she purred, her voice smooth as honey. "Where do these four kits come from?"

Shadowheart stared at Goldenheart. He blinked twice and turned back to Skykit and her sisters. "Follow Goldenheart. She's the FishClan medicine cat. She will take you to the den underneath Jagged Rock, where AirClan will decide your futures."

Skykit looked at her sisters. She was beginning to wish there were some aspect of this where they got any choice. The four kits padded slowly after the golden she-cat.

The Jagged Rock stood in the middle of the clearing. It was very large – larger than the Great Rock Skykit had seen at Fourtrees.

Goldenheart slipped into a small cave in the bottom of Jagged Rock. Skykit glanced back at her sisters, and then slipped into the cave as well.

After about a foxlength, the cave opened up. Jagged Rock was almost hollow inside. From a hole near the top of the rock, light shone directly on a blood red stone in the middle of the cavern.

"Don't worry, kits," Goldenheart meowed as they neared the stone. "The Bloodstone won't hurt you. Just a moment. Sit quietly, please."

Skykit and her sisters watched as Goldenheart lay down next to the Bloodstone and pressed her nose to it. Soon, she was in a dream state – or whatever it was that happened to medicine cats.

"I…"Stormkit began.

"Shh! Not so loud," Skykit mewed softly.

More quietly, Stormkit meowed, "What if they do split us up? I don't think we'll be able to get back to ThunderClan by ourselves."

"I think you will."

The four kits jumped. Goldenheart had stood up and now sat behind them.

"Your future lies in the paws of both AirClan and StarClan. Both ancestor Clans visited me and told me of what is to come. I cannot tell it all to you now, but you are to free our eight Clans. Sadly, you'll have to be split up at first, but you will bring us together."

Skykit pondered what this could mean, and suddenly a question popped into her head. But could she trust Goldenheart? She didn't seem to like Shadowheart all that much…or any of the kitnappers, really. Skykit decided to take a chance. "Why do the names of the tom Clans begin with types of hunter animals, and all the names of the she-cat Clans begin with prey animals?"

Goldenheart sighed. "That is a very long and complicated story. I can begin it now – but you must promise never to tell Shadowheart I told you." The medicine cat was speaking very quietly now.

"Promise," Rabbitkit meowed quickly. Skykit and the rest of her sisters spoke in unison, promising as well.

"Alright, then." Goldenheart sat down. "Gather around and listen closely."


	4. Traitors?

_Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story..._

Goldenheart sighed. "That is a very long and complicated story. I can begin it now – but you must promise never to tell Shadowheart I told you." The medicine cat was speaking very quietly now.

"Promise," Rabbitkit meowed quickly. Skykit and the rest of her sisters spoke in unison, promising as well.

"Alright, then." Goldenheart sat down. "Gather around and listen closely."

**And now, Chapter 4 of HPSS: Traitors..?**

* * *

"A long, long, time ago, when AirClan had no more than five cats in its ranks, there were four Clans, like you have now," Goldenheart began. "We used almost all of the same terms we used today, but each Clan had but one leader. Our Clans were name for four types of terrain – WaterClan, ForestClan, MoorClan, and BarrenClan.

"However, the leaders of BarrenClan and MoorClan, both toms, had been plotting carefully. At one gathering, they forced their medicine cats to describe a dream supposedly form AirClan. These leaders, Wretchedstar, and Wickedstar, devised the dream. I well remember the tales of what each medicine cat was forced to say.

"Each cat recited a slightly different version of the same story: 'I saw many different cats in a clearing. In one half of the clearing, all the tom's sat. In the other half, she-cats sat. Suddenly, all the toms turned into hunters – not just cats, but all kinds of animals. All the she-cats became various types of prey.'

"None of the cats liked this dream, but none could figure out what it meant, either. So it was decided that the cats would await another sign." Goldenheart stopped and looked at each kit individually.

"I know these things, for I am a medicine cat. But you youngsters must never tell of this – no matter what – or we could all be in trouble," the she-cat meowed.

Skykit nodded. "I will never tell," she mewed, sounding brave – and feeling a little brave, too. Rabbitkit nodded slowly. Stormkit bobbed her head excitedly. Silverkit shrank away shyly, but nodded her head as well.

"Alright," Goldenheart meowed, lowering her voice until it was barely a murmur, and the kits had to lean in close to hear her. "AirClan decided that they…"

Before Goldenheart could finish, a yowl pierced the clearing. "Oh, one of the councils must be calling a meeting," she meowed. "I'll have to finish later."

Skykit and her sisters followed the golden medicine cat out of the cave. "I'm sorry, I have to go," Goldenheart informed them, rushing off quickly.

Skykit sighed, turning to face her siblings. Rabbitkit was blinking. "What should we do now?" she asked.

"Uh…act like this is a Clan meeting or something, I guess," Skykit meowed. "Maybe go over there with all the other cats." She motioned with her tail to the place where, seemingly, all the cats in the camp had gone.

"That'll be fun!" Stormkit exclaimed. "Maybe we can meet a bunch of cats! And maybe some will be friendly like Goldenheart. Maybe Goldenheart has a sister. What do you think Goldenheart's sister's name would be? Maybe we'll get to meet some other kits. Do kits come to meetings here?"

"But what if we _do_ go over there, and they get mad at us?" Silverkit broke in tentatively.

"Well, it's not our fault, because we don't really know what we're supposed to be doing." Skykit sighed. Shouldn't _somebody_ be telling them _something_?

Skykit started to lead the way towards the meeting when she saw two cats who looked only a little older than she running by. _Late?_ she thought. She called out to them.

"Hi! I'm Dapplepaw, and this is my friend Swanpaw!" exclaimed the smaller of the two, a dark brown and gray tortoiseshell. "We're from RabbitClan and we're gonna be late."

"Slow down, Dapplepaw," purred the second of the two, a dark brown she-cat with white flecks on her ears and paws. "Are you new cats?" Skykit nodded. "I see. Do you want to join us?"

Skykit looked at her sisters. All looked quite agreeable – except Silverkit, who was staring at the large group of cats. "Sure," Skykit meowed. At least now they would have some help from someone who knew what they were doing.

The six cats padded briskly towards the large group. "This is called an assembly," explained Swanpaw. "It's when all the cats from all our Clans are called together by one of the councils. Do you know what a council is? Yes? Okay."

"This time, the FoxClan council is leading the assembly," Dapplepaw meowed, motioning wit her tail to three cats standing on a tree stump. "That tree their standing on is called Treestump." _How original_… Skykit mused. _The jagged rock is Jagged Rock, the blood-colored stone is Bloodstone, and the tree stump is Treestump…_

"Who makes up the FoxClan council?" Rabbitpaw asked, snapping Skykit back into reality.

"The browninsh tom who looks like his pelt is all dusty is Braveheart, the ginger one is Gorsepelt, and the tannish one is the council leader, Sunstar," Swanpaw replied.

The cats were murmuring softly. From the snippets of conversation Skykit could hear, they were talking about…snout sliders? No, mouse siders. Outsiders?

"Quiet down!" Sunstar yowled. "We have noticed that there are two traitors in our midst!"


	5. The Outside Clans

_Previously, in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story…_

The cats were murmuring softly. From the snippets of conversation Skykit could hear, they were talking about…snout sliders? No, mouse siders. Outsiders?

"Quiet down!" Sunstar yowled. "We have noticed that there are two traitors in our midst!"

**Chapter 5: The Outside Clans**

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --**

Skykit held her breath, waiting. The camp had gone silent immediately at Sunstar's yowl – and now the cats stood staring.

"Amberpaw of FishClan and Smokymask of BearClan have been found guilty of aiding the outsiders. Because of their crime, they will be banished to the outside Clans, where Amberpaw must join AuraClan and Smokymask must join AshClan," Sunstar continued, his eyes glinting fiercely as he scanned the camp. The tom glanced backwards. "Fetch them."

Several toms whose pelt colors signified that they were of FoxClan surrounded a young gray tom with black paws and a black face, and a ginger and white tabby she-cat with bright amber eyes. They escorted the two cats up onto Jagged Rock.

"Does either of you have any final statements?" Sunstar's expression challenged the two to speak.

"Grassfur and Feathercloud were sent away unfairly," the gray and black tom, presumably Smokymask, meowed fiercely. "And Feathercloud was going to bear her kits soon. We had to help them reach the Clans before she started kitting."

The entire clearing was silent for a second. Sunstar stared at them, unblinking. "You have until moon high to get off of our territory."

Smokymask looked ready to argue again, but Amberpaw pressed her tail over his mouth. "Fine," she spat. "We will go." The apprentice turned quickly and leapt off of Jagged Rock, followed closely by Smokymask. The two padded towards the edge of the clearing. All was silent until they disappeared into the bush.

Sunstar turned again to address the rest of the cats. "All other aids to the outsiders will be dealt with in a similar manner. Remember, any contact with a banished cat is strictly prohibited. This assembly is adjourned."

The second the rest of the cats started chatting again, Skykit turned to Dapplepaw and Swanpaw. "Who are Grassfur and Feathercloud?" she demanded. "What do they mean, 'banished'? And what are AshClan and AuraClan?"

"Shhh, not here," Dapplepaw meowed, glancing around almost casually. "They might hear us."

"Yes, wait until moonrise. We'll meet you in that cave, there," Swanpaw mewed, motioning with her tail towards a small hollow in a large rock wall. With that, the two she-cats started to pad away.

Skykit glanced at the sky. The sky seems bigger here, she thought. The sun was almost set, and more colorful than she had seen in a long time. A few stars glittered through the winding purple wisps that had replaced the giant twisting clouds of the daytime sky. The moon was beginning to rise, ever so slightly, at the other end of the encampment. Skykit found it comforting to think that the rest of ThunderClan was looking at the same sunset.

Would she ever see them again?

XXX

"So we appeal to you to be on the lookout for any sign of the kits, and we warn you not to trust any rogue," finished Birdtalon, the ThunderClan medicine cat.

Four kits! All four! Dawnpoppy's whole first litter! Tallflower was RiverClan's sole queen. She glanced at her kits, tumbling around in the grass. Hazelkit, Bluekit, and Foxkit, Tallflower's third litter, were all younger than Dawnpoppy's kits, and more trusting. If Brookstar had allowed a rogue into the RiverClan camp, her kits may have simply followed them out. Her eyes flashed, and she shivered to think of what Shadowheart was doing. Shadowheart? What an unfortunate name. But perhaps all too fitting…

RiverClan was proud and strong. Perhaps they weren't as benevolent as ThunderClan, but surely Brookstar would agree to keep a look out for the kits? If my kits were taken… Tallflower couldn't help but remember that a couple of kits had disappeared moons and moons before – from several Clans – but that was when she was an apprentice. Now, she was an older warrior – maybe an elder the next time this season rolled around.

Brookstar was nodding. "We will stay alert for any sign of either rogues or kits," she promised. "RiverClan extends our sympathy for your queen, and our determination that the same fate will not befall our Clan."

Birdtalon nodded. "We thank you, Brookstar." But as the medicine cat turned to go, Tallflower couldn't help noticing the glint of suspicion that had flickered in her eye.

XXX


	6. Azureskies

_Previously, in __Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story__…_

…Tallflower couldn't help but remember that a couple of kits had disappeared moons and moons before – from several Clans…

…"Yes, wait until moonrise. We'll meet you in that cave, there," Swanpaw mewed, motioning with her tail towards a small hollow in a large rock wall. With that, the two she-cats started to pad away…

**Chapter Six of HPSS: Azureskies**

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- **

Stormkit glanced once more at the sky and rolled over onto her back. She'd been waiting for moon high for almost two hours, though her sisters had fallen asleep. Stormkit had been eager to explore, and Skykit very curious, but neither wanted to leave the others.

They'd found a brush to lie under until moon high, and soon all but Stormkit were asleep, though Skykit was restless.

_Outsiders_, she thought. _Outsiders…banished to AshClan and AuraClan. Traitors? It sounds like they're traitors for just trying to help somebody._ Stormkit wondered if it would be safe to ask someone who Grassfur and Feathercloud were.

_It doesn't seem right…especially if they are banished._ Stormkit glanced around the clearing. She noticed a young-looking blue-gray she-cat finishing a mouse, only a few foxlengths away. Stormkit glanced back at her sisters. _They won't miss me...plus it'll be quick._

Stormkit slunk quietly over to the she-cat. "Uh…excuse me..."

The cat turned quickly. "Hello, dear, have we met?"

Stormkit blinked. "No, I'm kinda new at…well…everything. This is my first…" _What were those really long gatherings called? _Stormkit couldn't remember. "This is my first time…at the clearing."

The cat nodded softly. "This is your first conclave, then. My name is Azureskies."

"Uh…my name is Stormkit, glad to meet you. If it's not too much trouble, I wanted to ask…well…" Now Stormkit was a little shy. If Skykit couldn't ask about the Outsiders in a large group of cats that likely wouldn't hear her, how safe could it be to directly speak to someone? Stormkit decided to make something else up.

"I wanted to ask…" _What wouldn't sound suspicious? _She couldn't ask something that other kits would know…but what were kits taught here? She certainly couldn't ask any of the things she really wanted to know – why they were taken, if they'd ever get to go back, why the she-cat Clans were named after prey, what she and her sisters were supposed to do, what state of peril the Clans were in…the list continued "Who's in the council of the Clan I'm supposed to be in?" Stormkit cringed. Was that something she was supposed to know?

"The council of…RabbitClan?" Azureskies asked. Stormkit nodded, deciding to act tentative. She decided there wasn't some kind of law – maybe she could pose as a cat that was a little slow. "Well, there's Gorsestar, Volcanoheart, and Duskfeather. Don't worry, they're all very nice. Gorsestar and Volcanoheart have both had kits before, so I'm sure they'll be understanding, too."

"Oh…thanks." Azureskies nodded in acknowledgement and turned to go. "Uh…Azureskies?" The blue-gray she-cat turned back. "Are Clans allowed to meet aside from at…conclaves?"

Azureskies shook her head softly, glancing at her paws before looking back at Stormkit. "The she-cat Clans are not. The tom Clans are allowed to visit any Clan at any time." Stormkit tried not to show her shock. _Talk about prejudice…_ "You're not from here, are you? You're one of the kitnapped."

Stormkit didn't know what confirmed Azureskies's suspicion: her expression or her silence. Nevertheless, the young cat's bright sky-colored eyes flashed with emotion. "They shouldn't do that," she said softly.

Stormkit pawed at the ground. It was _hard_ to be a slow, serious cat. "Oh. Do you…know anything about my first Clans?"

Azureskies blinked. "Yeah. I do. There are a couple of cats here that do." She looked up at the sky. "It's moon high. Don't you have to be somewhere?"

Stormkit was thinking on her feet now. "Yeah, I do!! I think. Maybe. Except…yep, I'm pretty sure I do. Do you have to be somewhere, too?"

"Yes," Azureskies mewed, her tone unreadable. "A lot of cats do."

"Well, okay, I guess I'll see you around then. But seriously, it was nice meeting you." Stormkit decided to drop the slow, serious act. She was bored of it.

"It was nice meeting you, too. See you around." Azureskies padded away quickly. Stormkit pretended to go the other way until she saw Azureskies disappear around a corner. Then, she scampered back to her sisters.

Skykit was awake and glaring. "What do you think you're _doing_? What did you ask her? How do you know where her loyalties lie?"

Stormkit blinked. "Where her loyalties lie?"

"Well, if we're supposed to unite the Clans," Skykit murmured, so that no one else could possibly hear, "then there must be something stopping them from uniting."

That _did_ sound pretty reasonable. "I found some stuff out, though."

Skykit sighed. "That she knows we were kitnapped?"

Stormkit could feel heat rising to her ears. "Well…er…she just kinda guessed. But I guess it's not such a big deal, because she says a couple of cats know stuff about our Clans. As long as we're joining these Clans now, she didn't seem to care."

"_She_ didn't. Another cat might."

"I guess. But guess what? The giant gathering is called a Conclave. She-cat Clans have to stay in their own territory after the Conclave, but the tom Clans can go visit any Clan they want. I also know that I'm gonna be sent to RabbitClan and the council is Gorsestar, Volcanoheart, and Duskfeather. And Gorsestar and Volcanoheart have had kits before."

"And who was the cat you were talking to?"

"Her? Uh…yeah, she's Azureskies. I like that name, it sounds cool. Oh yeah, it's moon high, so we gotta go."

Skykit looked up quickly. "Okay, wake up Rabbitkit."

While Skykit prodded Silverkit with her paw, Stormkit pounced on Rabbitkit.

"Mrrow!" Rabbitkit tried to jump up. Stormkit stepped off her. "What was _that _for?!"

"Shh, be quiet."

"Stormkit!"

"It's moon high and we're leaving. Bye!" Stormkit stepped out from under the bush and joined Skykit and Silverkit, who were scanning the clearing for other cats. It seemed that many were milling about at this time of night. "Azureskies said a lot of cats have places to be at moon high," she whispered to Skykit.

Skykit nodded slowly. "I wonder why."

Soon, the four kits had slipped through the group of cats and made it to the cave where they were supposed to meet Dapplepaw and Swanpaw.

XXX

"Glad to see you made it," Swanpaw mewed softly.

Skykit replied with a 'thank you' and nudged Stormkit. Stormkit looked a little tentative. _Why'd she have to go and talk to somebody?_ Skykit hoped they hadn't accidentally jeopardized anything. At least they'd gotten some information.

"Uh…while we were waiting…" Stormkit began. The two apprentices turned to look at her. "…I talked to a cat named Azureskies."

"Oh, Azureskies is OK," Dapplepaw said, almost immediately. "She's on our side."

"Well, if we're going to start at the beginning, why were Amberpaw and Smokymask sent away?" Skykit asked.

"Sunstar already said – they were helping the outsiders," Swanpaw meowed. "That's the worst reason to be sent away, though."

Skykit blinked. "Well, who _are _the outsiders?"

"What do you think?"

"I suppose that they're cats who have been sent away, like Smokymask and Amberpaw?" A nod of approval from Swanpaw and Skykit continued. "AuraClan is a she-cat Clan and AshClan is a tom Clan. Whenever cats do something terrible, then they're banished to the outsider Clans. And they have to stay away from your eight Clans."

"Right," Swanpaw meowed. "Except that AuraClan and AshClan aren't the real bad cats here."

Skykit nodded. "I don't see what's wrong with _helping_ a cat who's about to have her kits get to the outside Clans."

"Most cats wouldn't," Dapplepaw meowed. "See, at least two or sometimes all three of the Council members in the tom Clans are against us."

Silverkit gasped and shrank back towards the wall of the cave. Skykit sighed. Her sister seemed a lot more afraid these days. _But she _has _kind of been through a lot…_Skykit herself was getting pretty jittery about getting taken from her parents, her Clan – any Clan she'd ever known – and told that she was to save eight more Clans. She and her sisters would have to be careful. From the elders' stories back in ThunderClan, would-be heroes never got a second chance.

"Anyway," Skykit continued, "what side _are _you on?"

Dapplepaw's yowl prevented Swanpaw from answering. "Someone's coming!"


	7. Chosen

_Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story..._

..."Your future lies in the paws of both AirClan and StarClan. Both ancestor Clans visited me and told me of what is to come. I cannot tell it all to you now, but you are to free our eight Clans..."

..."Each cat recited a slightly different version of the same story: 'I saw many different cats in a clearing. In one half of the clearing, all the tom's sat. In the other half, she-cats sat. Suddenly, all the toms turned into hunters – not just cats, but all kinds of animals. All the she-cats became various types of prey.'  
"None of the cats liked this dream, but none could figure out what it meant, either. So it was decided that the cats would await another sign..."

**Chapter 7 of HPSS: Chosen**

* * *

Dapplepaw ran over to Swanpaw. "Act like we're just sharing tongues," she meowed. Rabbitkit and Stormkit immediately curled up next to each other. Silverkit shrank back, but Skykit padded over to her sister.

"Come on," she purred. "Pretend it's a game."

Silverkit sighed and curled up next to Skykit. The two began sharing tongues as a huge tan tom padded in. Sunstar!

"What are you two doing with these kits?" the FoxClan leader demanded.

Silverkit shuddered, and Skykit huddled close to her sister.

"We're just explaining some of the laws to them," Dapplepaw answered. "They were a bit confused during the assembly."

"Alright, you," he said, turning to Skykit. "Who are AshClan and AuraClan?"

"Cats who have broken the laws and have been banished," Skykit meowed. "AshClan is a tom Clan and AuraClan is a she-cat Clan."

Sunstar didn't respond, instead glaring at Skykit intensely, as if trying to find out whether she really believed her own words. "Carry on," he said finally, with a last glare at the two apprentices.

Sunstar padded out, with occasional backwards suspicious glances, but Silverkit didn't stop shuddering. "W-what if he a-asked m-m-me th-th-that?" she murmured.

"Well, he didn't, and if he did, you would have given him the answer," Rabbitkit purred encouragingly.

"Well, what happened, happened, and either way, we still have a job to do here," Skykit meowed. "Goldenheart said so. Speaking of which, where is she? Is she—"

A scratching noise at the back of the cave silenced her. The six cats turned quickly towards the back wall. Swanpaw slipped quickly to where the noise originated and pricked her ears. She waited as the noises continued. Enthralled, neither Skykit nor any of her sisters made a sound as Swanpaw seemed to try to decipher the scratches. Then, the dark brown she-cat nodded softly.

"What's going on?" Stormkit whispered to Dapplepaw.

"Shh. Watch."

Swanpaw unsheathed her claws and answered the scratches with a few of her own. _Scraaaaape – scratch – scratch – scraaaaape – scratch._

Two more quick ticks of claws against stone sounded from the other side, and then Swanpaw moved over slightly, and began pushing at the wall of the cave at an angle. After a few moments, the seemingly solid wall moved slightly to the side, to reveal a tunnel in the ground. From the blackness leapt a golden she-cat whose pelt was only slightly dusty.

"Glad you could make it," Dapplepaw purred softly.

"You can never be too careful," Goldenheart meowed.

"Why do you have to be so careful?" Stormkit asked, sounding a little surprised. "And what's with the tunnels?

"Tun_nel_. There's only one. That we know of. We dug it during a really long, wet, season, so none of the tom Clans came here for water. It runs from the main female medicine cat cave to this one," answered Swanpaw.

"Like Stormkit said, _why_ do you have to be careful?" Skykit asked. "Have you done something wrong?"

"Well…you _could _say that," Swanpaw purred quietly.

"Maybe I should finish the story I started, first," Goldenheart meowed.

"Which one?" Dapplepaw asked. "Oh…how our Clans came to be as they are?"

"Yes," Goldenheart answered. "Now then, where were we?"

"You were about to tell us what AirClan decided, after the two evil leaders forced their medicine cats to tell of pretend signs," Rabbitkit purred.

"Oh yes," the golden medicine cat meowed. "Now I remember. The Clans weren't strong enough at the moment to deal with what the two treacherous toms were planning, so AirClan decided to change everything, giving the Clans a chance to fight off the cruel leaders' influence. But if they proved the pretend dream to be untrue, their plan would not work. So they decided to separate toms and she-cats, and name the tom Clans after hunters and the she-cat Clans after prey. This way, it corresponded with the dream but kept the cats safe from what was ahead."

"What was ahead?" Stormkit asked.

"The two evil toms planned to get rid of all the she-cats and use them only for breeding purposes. They also planned to destroy any toms that stood in their way. They wanted them and their descendants to rule the forest. Now, everything is quite a bit like that. At least one of their descendants is in the Council of each tom Clan. AirClan knew this would happen, so that's why they created a council of three instead of a single leader," Goldenheart continued. "The outsiders, as Dapplepaw and Swanpaw have probably told you, are cats who have been sent away for going against the evil leaders' descendants or helping the outsiders. We must be very careful because we are the resistance."

Skykit gasped. Now she understood. There was just one problem. "Why do you trust us so much?"

"As I told you before, you have been chosen by both AirClan and StarClan to save our eight Clans," Goldenheart answered. "However, that is all I can tell you now."

The golden she-cat seemed sad. "What's wrong?" Skykit purred so quietly only Goldenheart could hear.

"It is my time," the medicine cat answered. "My apprentice Leafwing will have to take over as medicine cat."

"Your time to what?" Skykit asked.

"I can't say, but AirClan has sent me this information."

As Goldenheart left, Skykit ran to Swanpaw. "Goldenheart says it's her time and her apprentice will have to take over as medicine cat," the kit meowed.

Swanpaw sighed. "I knew she was trying too hard. I knew she'd be caught eventually."

Now Skykit was confused again. "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"We told you, we're the resistance," Swanpaw meowed. "We've been helping the outside Clans, AshClan and AuraClan, and Goldenheart has been caught. She'll be sent to AuraClan, just like Amberpaw."

Skykit stood frozen, weighing the situation. She couldn't think of anything she, or anyone else for that matter, could do to help Goldenheart.

"Are we supposed to be part of the resistance?" Skykit purred quietly to Dapplepaw, who had been listening.

"Yes," Dapplepaw answered. "You and your sisters are going to bring all ten Clans together."

"And you," Swanpaw meowed. "You, Skykit, will lead the resistance."

Lead the resistance? Skykit stared at her friend like she had gone mad. What was she thinking? Skykit had learned ten seconds ago what the resistance was, and now she was supposed to _lead_ it?

"Not right away, of course," Dapplepaw assured. "You'll have plenty of time to prepare."

Even though that wasn't much comfort, Skykit sighed in relief. At least nothing would happen just yet.

Goldenheart, who had slipped out the front entrance, rushed back in. "Swanpaw!" she meowed. "You've been found out as well."

Swanpaw looked at her paws. Dapplepaw rested her tail on the other apprentice's shoulders. Skykit watched helplessly. Not Swanpaw too!

"At least I get to see Amberpaw again," Swanpaw meowed. "She's my sister, you know."

"And your brothers, Snowpaw and Icepaw, have been caught as well," Goldenheart added reluctantly.

"At least Dapplepaw hasn't been caught," Swanpaw meowed.

"We all know I'm next," Dapplepaw sighed.

So much negativity! Skykit was done with it. "Don't talk like that!" she meowed. "It will make your chances of being caught greater if you believe that you're next! And this incident should only cause you to work harder! Now, there's more to resist, more to do. You can't just give up now. Swanpaw and Goldenheart probably won't be sent away until tomorrow. There's still plenty you can do in a day-but not if you sit here feeling sorry for yourself. Come on! Get on your feet and make something happen. You know you can."

Rabbitkit and Stormkit turned to face her. Silverkit stared. Dapplepaw and Swanpaw looked astonished. "Where did that speech come from?" Dapplepaw asked.

Goldenheart looked pleased. "You're just as strong and brave as AirClan promised you would be," the she-cat meowed. "We need more cats like you."

Swanpaw nodded slowly, then more quickly. "You heard Skykit," she meowed to Dapplepaw and Goldenheart. "Let's do this."

XXX

Skykit snuck out of the clearing, her fur plastered with mud and three voles, a bird, and a mouse in her jaws. She'd insisted that she be allowed to help. Now, she was taking food to AshClan and AuraClan. A member of one of the two Clans was to meet her by a large pine tree. The mud was to mask her scent.

Skykit reached the pine tree and set down the prey. Out from the underbrush padded a familiar white she-cat with amber eyes, her fur plastered with mud as well. Amberpaw!

"Who are you?" the white apprentice asked.

"I'm Skykit," Skykit answered.

"A kit? We never let kits do things that are this dangerous."

"Apparently, I'm supposed to lead the resistance," Skykit purred hesitantly. "And you were just sent away today. Are you sure it's safe?"

"Oh, it's you!" Amberpaw meowed. "Welcome. Well, I'm the last cat anyone would expect to come back, so I'm also just the cat to do it. So what is the news?"

Skykit sighed. She didn't want to relay this information, but it was her duty, and she knew that this probably wouldn't be the last time she would have to give such news. "Goldenheart, Snowpaw, Icepaw, and Swanpaw have been found out. We don't know when they'll be sent away."

Amberpaw nodded slowly. "We have new information. One of our queens has kitted-Leafcloud, actually. We still don't know who the controller is, but we do know that it's a black tom in BearClan. Oh, sorry, you probably don't know what I mean. The controller is one of the descendants of Wickedstar and Wretchedstar. It's always a tom, and there's a new one appointed every time the old one passes away. He can never be a member of the council, though we don't know why. Does all that make sense?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Skykit meowed. "Do you usually know who the controller is?"

"Almost always, but barely a moon agon, the old one died. It usually takes a moon or two to figure out who the new one is."

"I have an idea. Just two more questions. First, does the controller usually go on important missions?" Skykit asked.

"If it's really important, the controller wouldn't miss it for anything," Amberpaw answered.

"And second, do they know that some cat will try to lead the resistance, and could they figure out who it was?"

"The answer to the first part is yes. As to the second part, well, they can guess," Amberpaw meowed. "The farthest the previous controller got was figuring out that it's a kit from your four Clans." Amberpaw seemed kind of confused as to what Skykit was doing.

"It's Shadowheart. He's a black BearClan tom. He was the one who came into our camp and pretended to be a loner. Him and his friend Bearclaw kidnapped me and my sisters. He's probably just waiting to see if the chosen cat is one of us or if he has to go back and steal more kits," Skykit meowed comfortably.

"That makes sense," Amberpaw decided. "I'll tell AshClan and AuraClan of this and we'll contact you. Thank you, Skykit." Amberpaw grabbed the prey and dashed off.

Skykit was just about to head back when a voice stopped her in her stracks. "You there!" it shouted. "What are you doing?"

A black tom padded out from the underbrush.


	8. Losses

_Previously, in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story..._

...Goldenheart, who had slipped out the front entrance, rushed back in. "Swanpaw!" she meowed. "You've been found out as well."

_and..._

Skykit was just about to head back when a voice stopped her in her stracks. "You there!" it shouted. "What are you doing?"

A black tom padded out from the underbrush.

**Chapter 8 of HPSS: Losses**

* * *

Skykit opened her jaws slightly, to drink in the cat's scent. She realized quickly that the cat was not Shadowheart, though in appearance, they were identical in all aspects save size. This cat was smaller. "Who are you?" she demanded, carefully disguising her voice.

"That depends," the tom meowed. "Who are you?"

Skykit started to give her name but stopped. He could be Shadowheart's spy. In fact, she reasoned that he likely was. "I asked first," she meowed.

"Fine. I'm Shadedpaw of BearClan."

Skykit nodded slightly, still wary. "Are you related to Shadowheart, also of BearClan?"

"I'm his son."

Skykit was able to bite back the words that popped into her head, but couldn't suppress a menacing hiss.

"A cat can't select his father," Shadedpaw meowed. "And what can you have against him, already?"

"He kitnapped us," Skykit hissed – and then wondered how smart it was to have said that.

"And that's my fault?"

"Well…um…no…but that's not what I meant!" Skykit answered. "I mean, it's nothing personal, but I can't trust anyone related to Shadowheart."

The tom stared at her for a moment, but his expression gave away no hints in regards to how he felt. "Why is your pelt full of mud?" he asked.

"If you must know, I slipped and fell into a puddle," Skykit answered, with an air of distaste.

"I hear that the resistance is growing stronger," Shadedpaw meowed.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, come _on_!" Shadedpaw exclaimed. "You may be a kit, and a new one at that, but no cat can go for nearly an entire day without hearing loads of fox dung about the resistance and their enemies."

"Well," Skykit meowed. "I haven't had nearly enough time to make sense of all that I've heard – which isn't even much. Now if you would excuse me, I must get back to camp." Skykit pushed past him and walked with her nose in the air until he was out of range, then she ran towards a small den Goldenheart had pointed out for her and her sisters to use.

XXX

"Kits, we'd like you to meet one of the most important members of the resistance," Goldenheart meowed.

"This is Rainstorm of BirdClan," Dapplepaw meowed, motioning with her tail to a light gray she-cat with yellow eyes. "She maintains contact with the Outsiders."

"Hello," Skykit meowed. "Pleased to meet you."

"You don't have to be that formal," Rainstorm mrrowed. "I'm a lot closer to your age than you think."

"Rainstorm was Rainpaw only a half moon ago and Rainkit only four moons ago, about when you were born. She's an amazing hunter and stalker, which is why she's already a warrior," Goldenheart explained. "Her skills also qualify her to be the head of our contacting squad, which is the group of cats that make it possible for us to contact AshClan and AuraClan, and for them to contact us."

"Oh…well, I just got back from delivering prey to the Outsiders," Skykit broke in.

Swanpaw nodded. "Who did they send?"

"Amberpaw," Skykit answered.

Swanpaw blinked, then seemed to consider the idea. "I guess it makes sense that nobody would expect her to come back – today, anyway."

"That's what she said," Skykit continued, "and she also said that they figured out that the new controller was a black BearClan tom. I asked a couple of questions, and I'm convinced it's Shadowheart."

As Skykit gave the evidence, her mind wandered back to Shadedpaw. She had to know. "But what about his son, Shadedpaw?" she blurted.

"Shadedpaw?" Rainstorm asked, looking confused. "Shadowheart's son? Well…" The light gray she-cat leaned in.

"I think you're right, it's Shadowheart," Goldenheart broke in. "Everything points to him, and I had a dream last night. My mother, Cloudstorm, who was also a medicine cat, explained that the dark-hearted cat controls all. It has to be Shadowheart."

"I'll send word out right away," Rainstorm meowed. "I'll be back." The pretty BirdClan she-cat rushed off.

Skykit sighed. She had wanted to learn more about Shadedpaw. Oh well, she'd see Rainstorm again.

"Hello," purred a soft voice. "I'm Leafwing, Goldenheart's apprentice." A golden she-cat slipped into the cave. She looked a lot like Goldenheart, except for that the gold of her pelt was light and creamy, whereas Goldenheart's stark, startling, golden fur was a lot darker.

"Oh, nice to meet you," Skykit purred automatically. Cats seemed eager to introduce themselves to the newest members of the resistance.

"One of my main jobs is to acquaint you with the main members of the resistance. Oh – and I'll show you which she-cats aren't with us, because five aren't. The problem is, you also _have_ to remember who's undecided."

"Wait." This time, Rabbitkit broke in. "Undecided?"

Leafwing nodded. "Just about all cats know that there's a resistance, but only the resistance knows who the resistance is. There are a lot of cats who simply haven't chosen what side they choose – Shadowheart's side, which seems like the safe side, or the resistance, which we are sure, will prevail in the end."

"But what if there are still undecided cats at whatever showdown takes place between the two sides?" Skykit noticed that Stormkit was thinking intently about this as she asked the question.

Leafwing glanced at Goldenheart. The older medicine cat spoke quickly. "We don't believe that will be possible."

Skykit blinked. _Huh?_ But before any of the kits could pose a question, Leafwing motioned to Skykit. "C'mon, let's go. Only two kits should go – we don't want to look suspicious."

Skykit glanced at her sisters. Stormkit? No, Stormkit was exhausted – she hadn't slept the previous night like the rest of her sisters. Silverkit? No, the silver she-cat wouldn't want to go out in the midst of all these cats and meet those who might not be on their side. Rabbitkit? She was brave in her own quiet way – and had an amazing memory. She'd remember which cats were not on their side and keep their other sisters away form them without having to explain anything. That would be perfect.

"Uh…who _wants_ to go?" Skykit asked.

Rabbitkit pulled herself to her feet. "I wouldn't mind going."

"I wanna go!"

"Stormkit, you need to take a nap," Rabbitkit meowed. "I'll go, unless Silverkit wants to."

Silverkit shook her head slowly. "No thanks." Skykit felt a little better – the silver kit wasn't trembling and didn't look as scared as before.

"Alright, let's go," Leafwing meowed. She led the kits out of the entrance and a few foxlengths towards the center of the camp.

Then, the three froze. They heard a terrified shriek coming from their den. A large pale ginger tom was entering the cave in which they slept. Skykit ran back, Rabbitkit and Leafwing close at her heels.

"What did I tell you?" the tom hissed to someone inside. A soon as Skykit was close enough, she glimpsed a tan and ginger kit – a tom – cowering in the big tom's shadow. Strangely, the kit didn't look scared.

"What are you doing?" Skykit demanded. The tom turned to face her.

"I'm Aspenfur of FoxClan. All I'm doing is getting my son," the tom assured.

"Don't worry," Leafwing murmured. "He's with us." Her voice was so quiet that Skykit and Rabbitkit could barely hear her.

"Why don't you come in?" Skykit offered, slipping past him and into the den. Aspenfur followed her, along with Leafwing and Rabbitkit.

As Skykit watched, Aspenfur looked towards Goldenheart, who nodded to him and flicked her tail towards Skykit. Aspenfur turned to her. "Hello, future leader," he meowed.

Skykit felt the heat rise to her ears, but she dipped her head in acknowledgment. "Hello," she meowed back. She wondered if she'd ever get used to this.

"Aspenfur works with Rainstorm," Leafwing explained. "He's a messenger. This is his son, Badgerkit."

"Well, let's go," Aspenfur meowed to his son, grabbing the small kit by the scruff and padding out of the den.

"Now…" Goldenheart meowed, but she never got the chance to finish.

The BearClan council – Bearstar, Grizzlyclaw, and Longtooth – were standing on the Treestump.

They had just yowled the summons for another assembly.

Skykit sucked in her breath. "It's our time," Goldenheart breathed to Swanpaw.

XXX

"We have noticed four traitors in our midst," Bearstar hissed. "Swanpaw of RabbitClan…"

A dark brown tabby tom who looked very reluctant was escorting Swanpaw to the Treestump.

"…Snowpaw and Icepaw of WolfClan…"

A dark brown tom with black stripes on his face, together with the dark brown Bearclaw, escorted Swanpaw's brothers, identical white toms, towards where Bearstar sat.

No cat seemed surprised – but now, Skykit could tell more from their expressions. She supposed that those with smug expressions were on Shadowheart's side. The other cats looked either indifferent – or somewhat angry. Skykit noticed Aspenfur in the throng of cats – and noticed he was trying very hard to look indifferent.

"…and the medicine cat Goldenheart…

Protests arose from the crowd – not just from the resistance, Skykit noted, but from those who Skykit guessed were undecided.

A jet-black tom escorted Goldenheart. Skykit gasped. _Shadowheart! That evil piece of…_

Goldenheart looked back over the clearing, her expression relaying a sad, brave, and hopefully short goodbye to her friends.

"Turn around!" Shadowheart barked, batting Goldenheart over the head – luckily – with sheathed claws.

"Because of their traitorous acts and aids to the Outsiders, which includes ignoring our loyal Clan cats to help the rogue lawbreakers, Snowpaw and Icepaw will join AshClan and Goldenheart and Swanpaw will join AuraClan," Bearstar yowled. Turning to the four 'traitors', he meowed, "You have until sunset to get off of our territory."

Skykit barely bit back a loud and angry hiss. She'd known that this was going to happen, but not so soon – and not so harsh! She was sure that Goldenheart hadn't shirked her regular duties at all. _Ignored our loyal Clan cats to help the rogue lawbreakers?!_ Either Bearstar had a lot of nerve, or the controller was very powerful and fully supportive of the leader.

Burning hatred for Shadowheart filled her and her eyes became darting flames. The only thing that stopped her from leaping at him was the sight of Rainstorm slinking into the clearing, practically unnoticed.

"I delivered the message," Rainstorm meowed, sounding untroubled. Skykit noticed that the four 'traitors' had left the clearing.

"Snowpaw, Icepaw, Swanpaw, and Goldenheart were just sent to the outsiders," Skykit hissed quietly.

"Not already?!" Rainstorm exclaimed, sounding shocked.

"Yes, already," Skykit meowed. Her four friends were now completely out of sight.

"It was going to happen anyway, we couldn't have done anything," Rabbitkit soothed.

Skykit sighed and studied her paws, trying to make herself calm again.

"Skykit," murmured a voice.

Skykit turned back. It was Silverkit.

"What about once the conclave is over and we all get separated? What do we do then?"

Skykit's eyes widened. She hadn't even begun to think of this. What, indeed, were they to do then? "I'm sure there's already a way set up," she soothed, sounding more sure than she felt.

As soon as Silverkit looked away, Skykit gulped. What _were_ they going to do?


	9. Roseheart

**A/N: Um, ahem, attention please-ok, this is kind of embarrassing but I lost the notebook that had my next two chapters in it and I thought I had typed up and so I was searching through all the computer files and finally thought I'd deleted them. So I wrote new chapters, pretty much identical to the old ones, and then (of course) I found the notebook. So this chappie's extra long.**

"Skykit," purred a soft, smooth voice. "Skykit, wake up."

Skykit drowsily looked up and found herself gazing into the bright green eyes of a reddish-ginger she-cat. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Roseheart," the she-cat meowed. "I'm a member of the SquirrelClan council. And don't worry, I'm of the resistance. There are only a few she-cats that aren't, but that's not important now."

"Alright." Skykit sat up.

"Here, eat this," Roseheart meowed, offering Skykit a plump mouse.

Gratefully, the young she-cat grabbed the mouse and settled down to eat while Roesheart continued.

"You'll have to learn which toms are of the resistance and which aren't," the reddish-ginger she-cat meowed. "That's kind of difficult, but you can probably do it. You'll also have to be introduced to all the resistance members and learn what each of them does. You'll be very busy the next few days."

"I suppose it couldn't wait until the next moon?" Skykit joked.

Roseheart smiled brightly. "Maybe it will fun," the warrior meowed.

Skykit nodded happily, but then a question popped into her head. "What side is Shadedpaw on?" she asked.

Roseheart was suddenly quite uncomfortable. "Uh…er…well…um…I'm…uh…n--not really supposed to t-t-talk about it."

Now Skykit was more confused than ever. She made a mental note to go talk to Rainstorm, who didn't seem as uncomfortable talking about Shadedpaw.

Meanwhile, Roseheart had regained her composure and was now explaining important terms. "Someone who helps the controller is called an accomplice. We have lots of names for members of the resistance, but there are lots of things to do," she explained. "Hunters catch the prey that is delivered to the outside Clans. Messengers keep up communication with the outsiders as well as bring herbs and food to AshClan and AuraClan. Lookouts check for danger and spy on enemies. Informers are usually members of the council. They get important information and give it to the messengers to relay to the rest of the resistance as a whole. Herb-givers are medicine cats who collect herbs for AshClan and AuraClan." Roseheart paused to take a breath. "Travelers have the most dangerous job. They actually travel to the territories of the outside Clans and back. They catch prey on the way to AshClan and AuraClan as well as gather herbs. They gather and relay information to the fullest possible extent. They have to be sly and sunning, fast and strong, and have a keen eye for danger. Good travelers are hard to come by. Goldenheart and Swanpaw were travelers. It's the only job that you can't do once you've been caught. You can still relay information, gather herbs, hunt, get information, and look for danger as an outsider…but you can't be a traveler unless you're willing to be caught a second time, which means…" Roseheart mumbled the last two words so quietly Skykit could barely make them out. The reddish-ginger she-cat shivered violently and began again as if she'd never said those last two things. "I'm the lead hunter, so I don't know much about it, other than the fact that they also do something secretive that nobody but themselves has knowledge of. Travelers have more of a chance of being caught than all of the other resistance cats combined. I wish I could say you got to choose your position, but AirClan chooses for you. One night-tonight, actually-all the kits go to the Mist Pool, which is a wide pool completely surrounded by mist. It's beautiful and when I went, you could se the stars perfectly before you entered the mist. The medicine cat that went with me was called Cloudstreak. She was very light grey with thousands of white flecks, almost like stars. Her eyes were bright blue, brighter blue than I have ever seen on any cat. When I went…oh, this is probably getting very boring."

"No, not at all," Skykit purred. She found the entire thing very interesting…just a _little_ long.

"Oh well, we have to get down to the point some time," Roseheart meowed. "When do you want to lead the resistance?"

"What do you mean?" Skykit asked. When did she _want_ to lead? She got to _choose_?

"Do you want to lead in a moon or so when you're an apprentice or do you want to wait until you're a warrior?"

Skykit sat back, thinking. With all she'd seen going on, she didn't know if there was enough time to wait even until she was an apprentice. "I'll lead when I become an apprentice," Skykit purred.

"And why do you want to do that?" Roseheart asked.

"Well," Skykit answered slowly, "I've already seen a lot of the evil that's going on around here. If I'm going to help you guys gain freedom and independence sooner or later, I'd rather it be sooner."

"I see," Roseheart purred thoughtfully. "Apprenticeship it is, then. Now, once we separate, unless you are a messenger or a traveler, you will use messengers to communicate between Clans."

"OK," Skykit purred. "Sounds alright to me."

"I have to go for a short time, so I'll leave you with Rainstorm," Roseheart meowed as the light grey she-cat padded up.

"Hi," Rainstorm purred. "How have you been?"

"Fair enough," answered Skykit. "But remember how yesterday I asked you about Shadedpaw? You never answered me."

Now Rainstorm seemed to be deep in thought. "Well…I promise you'll hear about him by the end of the day, but now is not a good time."

"Alright," Skykit meowed, confused once again. No one would even tell her whether he was of the resistance or not! What could be such a secret? She sighed. She couldn't really expect anything to make much sense anymore.

OoOoO

Skykit was so tired she could barely lift her head. Rainstorm had spent the day showing her how to perform the many ceremonies of the eight Clans.

"And tomorrow you'll meet the entire resistance, as well as all the cats who are accomplices," the light grey she-cat had said.

As Skykit trudged back to her den for a quick nap, Leafwing dashed to her. "Are you ready?" the she-cat asked. "Rainstorm and Roseheart will come with us, so could you find them?"

Skykit sighed loudly but padded off to find the two she-cats. Roseheart stood near the fresh prey pile, finishing a mouse.

"We're getting ready to go to the Mist Pool," Skykit meowed.

Roseheart seemed to inhale the remains of her mouse in her excitement. "Ok, thanks!" she exclaimed before bolting off.

With a mrrow of amusement, Skykit left to find Rainstorm.

The light grey she-cat wasn't far away. She was talking to a black she-cat with one white paw and dancing amber eyes.

"Oh hello, Skykit," Rainstorm purred. "This is Nightstorm. She's one of the best hunters we have, and she was explaining where to find a certain type of bird."

Nightstorm nodded in greeting to Skykit. "Are you looking forward to leading the resistance?"

"I'm a little nervous but it would be extremely queer if I wasn't," Skykit purred truthfully.

"Yah, I suppose so," Nightstorm meowed laughingly. "Well, I'll let you get back to business." The pretty she-cat dashed off.

Skykit turned back to Rainstorm. Just as she was about to relay the news, Shadedpaw rushed by chasing a large squirrel. In one gigantic leap, he caught it and padded away with his kill in his jaws.

"We're going to the Mist Pool soon," Skykit meowed. "But wait…"

Rainstorm, who was about to pad away, sat back down. "Yes?"

"About Shadedpaw…"

"What about Shadedpaw?" Rainstorm seemed wary but not scared like others had.

"Just tell me if he's in the resistance or not, at least that much."

"Alright," Rainstorm sighed. "He's not of the resistance because of his heritage. The leaders are afraid he's a spy."

"Do you think he is?" Skykit prompted.

The grey warrior waited for what seemed like moons before answering. "No," she said finally. "No, I don't, but everyone else does. And when I say everyone I mean everyone-even Shadowheart and his accomplices think he's on their side. Once you're an apprentice, you'll get to decide what is done about him."

Skykit looked at her paws. So many decisions! What if she made the wrong one? How many cats would have to suffer because she slipped up?

"I'll explain everything later," Rainstorm meowed soothingly. "Now we really ought to get going."

Skykit was getting nervous. What job would she get?

* * *

**A/N: Well, it's kind of long. Which kit do you think will get what job? Skykit, Silverkit, Stormkit, and Rabbitkit will each get the job of either hunter, messenger, traveler, or lookout. Who do you think will be what? R&R and say!**

**Also, allegiances are coming soon. But in them, Skykit and her sisters are apprentices, so I'll put up the allegiances once they become apprentices. And if you review, I will update as fast as the end of the day or the beginning of tomorrow. I want at least five review for this chapter. R&R!**


	10. As It Begins

**A/N: Ok, before I post the section about the Mist Pool, I'll post this one, which takes place in AirClan and then in a flashback, THEN the part about the Mist Pool. Sorry it took so long to update, I didn't get my FanFiction mail for a while and didn't know how many people reviewed.**

**In AirClan…**

A light grey she-cat with white flecks and shining blue eyes stood by a small pool of water. Next to her was a ginger and white she-cat. Sitting beside the second she-cat were two kits, one ginger and the other white. The grey she-cat began to speak.

"It was horrible, Flyingcloud, and you know it," she meowed. The ginger and white she-cat answered slowly.

"Yes, it was," Flyingcloud purred. "But why must you show Skykit this, Cloudstreak? Of what importance is it?"

"Your son is not trusted," Cloudstreak answered. "She is the only one who can help him."

"But must she see how my kits died? How I died?"

"Yes," Cloudstreak said. "When she sees what happened to Emberkit, Breezekit, and yourself, she will realize who is to be trusted and who will bring naught but destruction. But you must remember. I know it hurts, but you must."

Flyingcloud sighed, and let the whirlpool of terrible memories flow back to her. "Now," Cloudstreak meowed, "see it from the eyes of a cat who doesn't know you."

**Flashback…**

_A ginger and white she-cat padded towards a pool surrounded by mist. Following behind her were three kits- one ginger, one white, and one black. The she-cat spoke to the kits quietly, her tone hushed and secretive. "Step in," she meowed. "You will learn what you are to become. You first, Emberkit." The she-cat motioned towards the ginger kit, who was also a she-cat._

_Emberkit stepped forwards tentatively into the mist and looked into the pool. An onlooker would easily be able to tell that she was receiving a message from AirClan. After a few moments, she padded back towards her mother. "I'm to be a messenger, Flyingcloud," the kit purred contentedly. The mother sighed happily._

"_You next, Breezekit," Flyingcloud prompted, nudging the white kit, another she-cat, forward. The kit sat at the pool as her sister had and soon returned with the message that she, too, was a messenger._

_The last kit, the black one, was a tom. "Go on," Flyingcloud prompted._

_The black kit didn't move forwards. "What about Webkit and Taintedkit?" he asked._

"_They're sick, dear," Flyingcloud answered._

_The tom snorted disbelievingly but stepped forward into the mist. He never reached the pool, for a yowl stopped him in his tracks. Turning, the kit saw his brother Taintedkit on a hill. He screeched a few words and raced away. Flyingcloud, Emberkit, Breezekit, and the black kit raced after him, scared out of their wits._

**Back in AirClan…**

"Stop," Cloudstreak meowed. "The other part must come from his mind, for you can't describe your own death."

Flyingcloud sighed in relief. It was devastating to remember the events that followed those she'd just reminisced upon…but it was all but impossible to imagine what had come next…her death, along with that of Breezekit and Emberkit. Taintedkit had died but as a traitor, and now roamed in the Dark Forest. Webkit, another traitor, was alive, though. So was her other kit…but she didn't like to think of him.

**In the Clans…**

Skykit sat waiting with her sisters, Leafwing, Roseheart, and Rainstorm. They had to wait for the other cats who would accompany them.

"How much longer will it be?" Stormkit meowed impatiently. "I want to go to the Mist Pool! What do you think I'll be? A herb-giver? A messenger? A hunter? A lookout? I won't be a traveler, I'm sure, but what do you think I'll be? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Silverkit quivered. "I hope none of us are travelers. It sounds so scary!"

"But it's a job that has to be done," Rainstorm meowed.

Skykit pondered this. It WAS true…and being a traveler sounded intriguing. No matter, AirClan would decide.

The seven cats stood near a large boulder, one of many scattered all over the camp. A light rain began to fall, and Skykit decided that this was a good thing, it would wash away their scent. Suddenly, a cat stepped out from the bracken a few feet away. "Where is the fresh-prey?" he asked.

Rainstorm stepped out to meet him. "The prey lies not within the bracken but by the boulder," she answered. Skykit deduced that they were speaking some kind of code.

The tom turned back to the bracken and motioned with his tail. Two full-grown cats stepped out, followed by four kits. They were all toms.

"This is the tom part of the patrol," Rainstorm explained once the toms were hiding behind the stone. She motioned to a white tom. "This is Whitefur of WolfClan. He's a traveler." Then she pointed to a bright red-orange tom. "This is Cardinalsong of FoxClan. He's a lookout. And this," pointing to a second white tom. "is Cloudfur. He's a herb-giver. But where is Goldenfoot of BadgerClan?"

Cloudfur answered. "He couldn't come. Treestar was getting suspicious."

Skykit broke in. "How come you planned for warriors from three Clans to come, but not BearClan?"

Silence followed her question. Cardinalsong was the first to speak. "What's your name?"

"Skykit," Skykit answered.

"You are to lead the resistance?"

"Yes."

"Then you may know," Whitefur meowed. "There are five cats in the resistance that are of BearClan. The rest are accomplices and the controller. We can't risk sending a member of the resistance from the controller's own Clan on this type of mission."

"I see…" Skykit purred understandingly.

Roseheart cleared her throat. "Alright, moving on. Clawkit is the dark brown tom, Bark-kit is the almost black tabby tom, Lynxkit is the grey tabby, Badgerkit is the tan and ginger tom, and Goldkit is the gold tom."

Skykit greeted each in turn with a friendly 'hello'. "But when will the she-cats get here?" she asked. Just then, as if on cue, four warriors, all she-cats, padded out from the bracken and ran over to the boulder, a huge group of kits following them.

"I'll let you introduce yourselves," Rainstorm mused.

"Alright," purred a white she-cat. "I'm Snowcloud of BirdClan. I'm a lookout. This," motioning to a white she-cat with large yellow eyes, "is Owlkit. This…"

"We can do it," Owlkit broke in. "I'm Owlkit, again."

A blue-grey she-cat spoke next. "I'm Sparrowkit."

"I'm Thrushkit," a light grey she-cat meowed.

The next warrior stepped forwards. "I'm Mistyflower of FishClan," the silver and grey tabby she-cat meowed. "I'm a hunter."

The FishClan kits introduced themselves promptly.

"I," said a grey and silver she-cat, "am Codkit."

"I'm Troutkit," meowed a silver she-cat.

The introductions went on, with a golden tabby named Lightkit, a grey tabby named Raykit, a silver tabby named Rock-kit, and another golden tabby named Pikekit.

The RabbitClan she-cats were next. Cottontail, a pretty brown she-cat with white splotches, was their 'chaperone'. She was a messenger. With her were six kits - the dark brown Marshkit, her almost identical sister Leafkit, a muddy brown Swampkit, a small black Pygmykit, and a dark brown Scrubkit.

SquirrelClan had the least kits of any of the she-cat Clans. The warrior with them was Firepool, a large dark ginger she-cat with long claws and blue eyes. She was a traveler. With her were the brown she-cat Bushkit, the huge ginger she-cat Giantkit, and the tortoiseshell she-cat Palmkit.

"I believe that's everyone," Rainstorm meowed finally. "It's time to go."

Skykit took a deep breath. Slowly, she stepped out of the shelter of the boulder. The other cats behind her waited as if they were holding their breaths. Suddenly, a white she-cat jumped out of the bracken. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she spat.

* * *

**A/N: Who is the she-cat? You don't know, do you? Because this is the first time she's in the story. Except for before, in this chapter. It's not Breezekit, it's her sister... Well, I want to have the little total number of reviews be at 63 before I update. Oh, and the first person to review this chapter gets to know Stormkit's warrior name! So review! Review! REVIEW!!! (please)**

**-Aviation-**


	11. An Issue of Trust

**A/N: Yay! More than I asked for! You guys get a really quick update for the next chapter. Seriously. Because my computer is fixed! Finally! Took a long time. Yay again, I think I got nine reviews for the previous chapter. Well, there's another contest today, so be ready. Enjoy!**

Skykit froze. The she-cat in front of her hissed, her eyes flashing angrily

"I went to…uh…make dirt," Skykit stuttered.

"Why'd you say 'u', are you unsure of your intentions?" the she-cat spat.

"No, you startled me, jumping out like you did!" Skykit snarled back.

"You're a kit, you can't leave camp without permission," the white cat retorted disbelievingly.

Skykit thought quickly, trying to think of one of the names of a council cat. "Moonspirit said I could go."

"Shouldn't Moonspirit have sent someone with you?"

"No, she said 'Go and hurry back'," Skykit lied, hoping this cat would believe her. "Who are you, anyway?"

"That's how most cats are, always so quick to get to the point," the she-cat meowed. "I'm Webpaw of BirdClan, for your information, since you simply must know."

"I'm Skykit," Skykit meowed.

"Well, Skykit," Webpaw purred, rapidly becoming fierce and unsheathing her claws. "I think you're lying. Moonspirit told ME herself, she doesn't let kits out of camp by themselves. Now I will ask you this one more time. Wha..."

Webpaw never finished. Snowcloud stepped out. "Skykit never said she went out by herself," the she-cat meowed. "Moonspirit sent me with her."

"Then why weren't you present the whole time?" Webpaw demanded.

"I didn't want to watch her make dirt! I'm not that mouse-brained. So I hunted a little," Snowcloud answered smoothly, producing a mouse.

"Then how do you know Skykit never said she went out by herself?" Webpaw inquired coolly.

At this Snowcloud was stuck. Suddenly, a black shape appeared from the bracken. _Shadedpaw!_

"Hey, hey, lay off, Webpaw," Shadedpaw meowed. "The truth is, Snowcloud and I went hunting and Skykit followed us. She seemed to pop out of nowhere after we started hunting, so we let her stay with us. She said she had to make dirt, so we let her go off."

"That's right," Skykit added, deciding to roll with this new story. "I actually set out to go find Snowcloud, because she said that she-cat play with me today but she never did."

"Then why'd you say that Moonspirit told you to go?" Webpaw asked icily.

"She must've been scared," Shadedpaw broke in. "Anyone would be on the spur of the moment, especially a kit."

Webpaw snorted. "Well, don't lie in such a mouse-brained way, Skykit, or you'll be found out," she hissed, her tone freezing cold. "Now I have to get back to camp. Goodbye." With that, the she-cat raced away.

"Uh…thanks," Skykit began tentatively. Shadedpaw was looking behind her, at the boulder that hid the rest of the cats.

"You can come out now, I know you're there," he meowed. Slowly, the other cats padded out, claws unsheathed.

* * *

**A/N: I know, it was short, but the next few chapters are kinda short too. I'm not going to have a really long chapter, but I'll try to make them medium-length.**

**I will update again once the little number-of-reviews thingy says 78. Once the whole story gets 78 reviews in all, I'll give you two chapters.**

**Today, the first reviewer gets a virtual Stormkit plushie and the next chapter will be dedicated to them. So R&R!!!!!**

**-Aviation-**


	12. Innocence and Second Chances

**A/N: Grace of Masbolle was the first reviewer, so she gets a virtual Stormkit plushy and this chapter is dedicated to her, which is really ironic because Icestream, who you'll meet, is a really important character in this chapter, and Grace of Masbolle submitted her! Wow, that's weird. Well, thanks to all my awesome reviewers, sorry for the long wait but it took a while to obtain review number 78, so enjoy this chapter!**

(Another A/N: Oh, and this takes place the afternoon before and the night of Skykit's visit to the Mist Pool)

Icestream padded silently through the trees, her paws touching the forest floor so lightly that no cat could have heard her. Her grey eyes glinted warily as she progressed. The silver FishClan warrior was a traveler, on her way to visit the outside Clans.

A rustle in the bushes startled her, but she quickly relaxed as a golden she-cat emerged from the underbrush. _Goldenheart!_

"It's been several days since any travelers have visited," Goldenheart commented. "Is there anything special going on tonight?"

"Actually, the kits are going to the Mist Pool tonight," Icestream purred.

"Really? Well, I wish them good luck." Goldenheart seemed uneasy about something - she was glancing around the forest cautiously, as if something could leap out at any moment.

"What's going on?" Icestream demanded gently. She wasn't a cat who gave up without an answer easily.

"There's been a new prophecy," the golden she-cat breathed, her eyes filling with horror from something beyond Icestream's view. "But it's for the ears of a very solemn few."

"Am I one of those cats?"

"Well…yes," Goldenheart answered, sounding reluctant. "But the knowledge is more of a curse than it is a privilege."

"Well?"

"I'll tell you once we get to AuraClan."

As they padded along, Icestream pondered what the secret could possibly be. More of a curse than a privilege? Well, that's what cats said the job of a traveler was like. But Goldenheart had always put it the other way around, saying that even with all the danger, being a traveler was a privilege, especially since travelers were the only ones who could sylconize. Sylconizing put cats in unparalleled danger, where every second each cat's life hung on a thread so thin that it could break if the wind picked up, but it had to be done. If there was a battle, five resistance cats against thirty accomplices, Goldenheart would be the one talking about the positives. So if Goldenheart thought the knowledge was more of a curse than a blessing…Icestream wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a question found its way past Goldenheart's lips. "Do you believe in innocence with second chances?"

"What?" Icestream found herself greatly perplexed at these words.

"If a cat has been accused of something and given a second chance, do you believe that the cat can _become_ innocent?"

Icestream thought for a moment. She understood what Goldenheart was asking, but it was a hard question to answer. Icestream could only guess to which cat Goldenheart was referring to, but she had a pretty fair assumption that the golden she-cat was referring to a cat against which Icestream was strangely prejudiced about. _Shadedpaw._ She remembered something her mother had said before she died. The scene was as clear to her as if it had happened only moments before.

"_Icepaw, listen to me," ordered a white, ginger, and silver she-cat. The cat lay on the ground, blood gushing from an open wound._

"_Who did this to you?" a second she-cat demanded, her gray eyes flashing and her silver fur bristling angrily._

"_Icepaw, my daughter, now is not the time for accusations," the dying she-cat meowed to the silver one._

"_Mother…"_

"_No, listen, and heed my words: _Shadows lurk with all that is wretched and wicked, and can never be altered. But one who may seem to be the prince of shadows is in reality that which saves the sky and is so high in rank that it soars with the air, while the real villain is made of nothing but darkness itself. _Remember this, my darling daughter, and you will know who to trust." With that, the she-cat's breaths began coming in shorter and shorter gasps, until finally they ceased altogether._

Icestream shuddered. Her mother's death had been horrid, and she still didn't know the cause of it. Icestream wasn't one for interpreting prophecies, but with all the talk of shadows, she assumed that, with all the talk of darkness and shadows, her mother had been trying to tell her that Shadedpaw was not to be trusted, and unless it could be proved otherwise, Icestream would never trust the black apprentice, even if her very life depended on it.

**A/N: Hello again! Well, what do you thing the prophecy REALLY means? I know I promised two chapters so the next one will be posted in about ten minutes, to space things out. Review BOTH chapters please, and since I got 12 reviews for the last chapter, but it took a long time, I'll lower the bar just a LITTLE: I would like 10 reviews for this chapter and ten for the next. Then, the little number of reviews for the entire story will say…wow-98. Well, it's possible, and the next chapter is really suspenseful, so once the thingy says '98', I'll give you the next chapter…Oh yes, and the first reviewer for this chapter gets a sneak peak summary of the sequel: ****Shadows of the Night****. Like the title? I hope so…and what would you say if I said there was going to be a series? R&R!**


	13. Decisions and An Evil Omen

**A/N: Hey everybody! Well, here's the next chapter…along with several could-be threatening omens…Sry about the wait, we just got Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and I had to figure out how to download the chapters right. Oh yah, the first reviewer was Rabbitstorm. Congrats!**

Outside a Deep, Dark, Den

An angry hiss split the air. "_What do you mean?_" a voice demanded, so evil and full of rage that most cats would shudder to hear it. "_How can you not have found the evidence? It's been almost a moon!!!!!"_

Quieter voices came, trying desperately to sooth the cat whose outburst had shaken the air. "Sir, we're so sorry, we just haven't had the time…"

"_Haven't had the TIME?_"

"Well, your greatness, sir, we have been busy with other matters…"

"_**What**__ other matters?"_

"Sire, your extreme greatness, we have received an omen."

The cats continued to speak but their words could not be heard. Four cats padded out, and two padded away. The two remaining were a jet-black tom and a dark brown tom. "Shadowheart, the preparations are almost finished," the brown tom remarked. "Can't you be happy about that?"

"No," the jet-black tom spat. "Not until I know if the prophecy was interpreted correctly."

Suddenly, a dark brown apprentice rushed up. "Your greatness, we have an update, sire."

In StarClan…(yes, StarClan, not AirClan-remember where the kits are originally from)

"I don't know, Ashentail," purred a dark grey she-cat. "Maybe we should inform one cat."

"But it is so major, we should let it play out on its own," the creamy colored she-cat referred to as Ashentail, meowed.

"It's her choice, you know," the first she-cat remembered.

"But will she make the right choice? She's a kit, Palestar, a KIT!"

"Skykit may be a kit, but she already has the heart of the bravest leader," Palestar said gently. "You shouldn't fret so much."

"She very well might have the heart of a leader, but what about you? You're a leader. Would it be difficult for YOU to choose between your set of birth Clans and an entirely new set of Clans? And that's the very EASIEST of her decisions. Would YOU be able to lead an entire group of cats when you were a kit?" Ashentail demanded.

"But she **will** make the right decision. That's why we chose her. Our sister clan AirClan agrees that she's just as strong as we thought she'd be, and just as sensible, too. She'll find the right way."

Ashentail sighed and rested her head on her paws. _I hope so,_ she thought. _In the name of all that is good, I really hope so._

**A/N: Alright, alright, so it was MAJORLY short. Well, not as short as some of my other chapters…But remember, I want ten reviews for EACH chapter. Actually, never mind, I just want 98 in all. That's not too hard. If you're anxious for an update, maybe…review a chapter you forgot to review previously? On the 98****th**** review, I'll update, so…R&R!!! And 98****th**** reviewer gets to know the kit's job of their choice (Stormkit, Skykit, Rabbitkit, and Silverkit are the choices, and you'd get to learn their future job-traveler, hunter, etc.). I'll update as soon as I get 98 reviews. R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R-R&R!!  
**


	14. Scorching

**A/N: I JUST FINISHED THE SIGHT! (And it was good, but you won't get any spoilers from me :D) I also read The Lost Warrior, which was also pretty good. Sorry I didn't update for so long, but there was…well…a family emergency. Which I don't care to speak of, other than that it involved an ambulance and an emergency room. Well, this chapter is pretty short, but it's interesting. Though the ending isn't that cliffy, I still think it's an interesting chapter. OH YAH-I made a website for this series. Just go to my homepage…warning, there are spoilers!**

Dapplepaw paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. She traipsed aimlessly around the clearing, her paws making little circles of dirt fly up off of the dusty ground. Most of the other cats were out hunting or gathered near by for the warrior ceremony of Lionpaw, who was a FoxClan tom. The ceremony had already begun, but Dapplepaw wouldn't attend. Apparently, neither would Shadowheart. She could barely make it out, but the evil tom was conversing with the BearClan apprentice Darkpaw inside his den, which wasn't much more than an almost pitch-black cave for which the entrance was nearly hidden by weeds.

"No, the ThunderClan kits are still too young for scorching," Shadowheart was saying, his voice slick and oily.

Dapplepaw jumped at the word 'scorching'. Unlike most cats, she knew what it meant. She shuddered, hardly able to bear the thought of the horrible treatment.

"But the prophecy said..." Darkpaw began.

There was a muted cry of pain and a thud. "Don't interrupt me!" spat Shadowheart's voice. "I know what the prophecy said! _Children of the Lighting's partner must be scorched by the Son of Shadows in order for the dark forces to prevail._ So he must befriend the kits, make them trust him, and then..."

Dapplepaw couldn't make out the rest, but she'd already heard enough. Noting that the ceremony was over, she glanced around frantically for anyone who could help her. She noticed three resistance cats talking nearby. One, a black she-cat with one white paw, looked over at Dapplepaw. "Dapplepaw, come over here!" she called, beckoning to the golden brown tabby apprentice with her forepaw.

Instead, Dapplepaw stood frozen. Shadowheart was speaking just loud enough for her ears to detect his words. "Shadedpaw is the key," he hissed. "If he is kind to the kits already, which we know the stupid mouse-brained fool can't help but be, it'll only take a little..._convincing_, shall we say, to get him to finish the job."

Dapplepaw heard the pawsteps of the cats. Fearful that they were approaching, she raced over to the group of three cats. The clearing seemed to stretch on forever, and Dapplepaw could only hope Shadowheart and Darkpaw wouldn't be able to scent her. Nightstorm, the black she-cat, immediately asked her what was wrong. "What is it?" she demanded quietly, her deep amber eyes burning into Dapplepaw's dancing green ones.

"Are you alright?" asked Lightfire, a yellow-orange tom with sky-blue eyes.

"You'll...never ...believe...what I just...heard," Dapplepaw breathed, her chest heaving.

The third cat, a white she-cat with black stripes whose name was Crowflight, smirked laughingly. "Try me."

**A/N: So? How do you like it? Oh, and a note about the last chapter, the winner was Flametail, but since you reviewed anonymously I couldn't give you your promised prize, so to Flametail: When you review this time please leave your email so I can give you your prize.**

**P.S. Today was my last day of school! YAY! And I've had this chapter ready for a while, but with all that's been going on I haven't been able to proofread it. So now, as soon as I get 140 reviews, I'll update. I know, I know, that's extremely ambitious and not likely to happen in the next few days, but if you think it's taking too long you could always log out and review. Not that one of you should give me all the reviews. Anyway, I'm going to cut this short…so PLEASE R&R!**


	15. Restrained

**A/N: Wow, getting 140 reviews took longer than I thought it would. Sry about that everybody…I will try to update every few days as long as I get at least 10 reviews per chapter.**

**Previously…**

"**You can come out now, I know you're there," Shadedpaw meowed. Slowly, the other cats padded out. Skykit noticed most were glaring at Shadedpaw…claws unsheathed.**

* * *

This confused Skykit. Shadedpaw had just _saved_ them! "You guys, it's more than 30 to 1 if he tries to attack, so he can't win. Relax!" 

The cats reluctantly sheathed their claws. "But he's Shadowheart's son!" Sparrowkit blurted out, obviously scared from the way she was trembling.

Skykit bit back a stinging retort. Who honestly _cared_ about heritage? Evidentially, it was the most important thing in the world to these cats.

Meanwhile, Whitefur had started giving orders. "Cloudfur, go back to camp and get Huntingtooth and Stormfeather," the tom meowed. "Bring them here!" Cloudfur raced off.

"Why do we need them?" Skykit inquired sarcastically. "For backup?"

"They're two of the only five members of the resistance in BearClan," Snowcloud mumbled so quietly only Skykit could hear her, obviously in an attempt to hide her words from Shadedpaw.

"I see…" Skykit murmured back, though she certainly didn't see at all. Why did they need members of the resistance from BearClan? What was wrong with FoxClan or RabbitClan? Why did they need more cats from _any_ Clan?

Moments later, Cloudfur returned with a dark brown tabby named Huntingtooth and a smoky black tabby named Stormfeather. Aspenfur was there, and three she-cats had come as well – Moonfur, Eagleheart, and Morningbrook. "Restrain him until we return," Whitefur ordered.

_Restrain him? _Skykit thought in shock. Shadedpaw seemed to have the same thoughts.

"Restrain me?" Shadedpaw sounded more shocked than Skykit.

Mistyflower retaliated to this outburst on an impulse resulting from fear by lunging and scorning her claws across the tom's flank. Red blood appeared on his shimmering black pelt.

Shadedpaw winced. "Alright, restrain me while you go to the Mist Pool." Skykit noticed that the cats got even angrier whenever he mentioned the Mist Pool. "Just don't attack me," the apprentice meowed.

"Be quiet!" Huntingtooth hissed, batting Shadedpaw over the head with unsheathed claws. Aspenfur bowled the apprentice over and planted a paw on his chest. The three she-cats and Stormfeather each pinned down one of his legs and Huntingtooth placed a paw on Shadedpaw's back. Shadedpaw didn't even try to resist, but he did look very confused.

"Why do we have to restrain him?" Skykit demanded of Rainstorm. "He just saved us!"

"Shh, hush," Rainstorm chided. "I told you, no one trusts him."

Just then, Cloudfur padded up to Rainstorm and murmured something to her in hushed tones. Skykit couldn't hear anything except parts of the conversation. "Shadedpaw…plan…torture…scorching…the four…not much time," she heart Cloudfur meow. Rainstorm nodded gravely and the tom raced away.

"What was that about? I heard 'Shadedpaw, plan, torture, scorching, the four, and not much time'. What's going on?" Skykit demanded. "Torture?"

"The resistance won't torture anybody. But Shadowheart has a new scheme. I'll tell you once you're an official leader. It shouldn't be long now, I suppose. And don't worry, all they're going to do today is restrain Shadedpaw," Rainstorm meowed.

"But what could he do?" asked Skykit, still puzzled.

"He knows we're going to the Mist Pool and he also knows where it is," Rainstorm answered. Before Skykit could say anything, Rainstorm added, "But I can't tell you about how he got this knowledge right now."

"He's not going anywhere," Huntingtooth spat somewhat aggressively.

"Alright, let's go now," Cloudfur meowed. One by one, the cats set off again, with Skykit in the rear. She walked slowly, pondering what had just happened. Shadedpaw had just SAVED her, and still the resistance saw the need to viciously keep him captive until they returned? One thing was for certain – the resistance was quite wrong about Shadedpaw. Skykit had no real proof, but she could feel it.

After walking for what seemed like hours, the large patrol reached an open clearing. About ten fox-lengths away was a large pool, surrounded completely by mist. The moon overhead cast its sweet silver rays upon the expanse, causing both the clouds of mist and the deep blue pool behind it to shimmer with an almost unearthly glow. Not a single tree was in sight. The ground was barren for miles in three directions, with naught but the stunning aurora of beauty before them to be seen.

Skykit sucked in her breath, standing still in awe of the beauty of the place. The mystical trance was broken by the pawsteps of a cat behind her.

"Well," Rainstorm meowed, "let's do this thing."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, I want the review thing to say 150 before I update. If it takes one day, I will update tomorrow. If it doesn't say 150 by the end of two days, I'll still update but I won't give you the next chapter until I have 160. The first reviewer for this chapter can give me 3-5 suggestions for Rabbitkit's warrior name and I'll pick the official one from those. So R&R please!**

**Also, I'm starting a contest, and you have until the end of the book to do it. Whoever has reviewed EVERY chapter gets the warrior names of Skykit, Silverkit, and Stormkit, and I will read and review to the story of their choice (that they wrote). So R&R peoples!**

**-Aviation-Nyra's Revenge-**


	16. Ygrkipomagen

**A/N: Wow you guys are awesome! The following people have reviewed every chapter: Rabbitstorm, Tommi Girl, and Streamheart. Congrats to you, and most of you out there are as of the present moment only missing like two to seven chapters. The contest continues…If you didn't review the last chapter, plz do. And sorry, this is kinda a short chapter.**

* * *

_Nightstorm paced _slowlyback and forth. Shadowheart's plan was absolutely brilliant. There was no way it could fail, since no cat could find out about it…that is, unless Dapplepaw, Crowflight, Lightfire, and Nightstorm could help it.

"It's a good plan," the she-cat admitted. "No one would suspect Shadedpaw if certain precautions were taken." Nightstorm was one of the few cats who thought that Shadedpaw wasn't evil. She secretly wondered if even Shadowheart and his team of evil ruffians could force Shadedpaw to do such a thing. Nightstorm remembered when she was a kit and Shadedpaw's mother, Flyingcloud, then Flyingpaw, had taught Nightstorm how to hunt before she'd even become an apprentice. When Nightstorm was an apprentice and Flyingcloud told her that she was expecting kits, Nightstorm was happy for er. That is, until she learned the identity of the father. Then, Nightstorm has tried to hide her shock. Flyingcloud thought that Shadowheart could change, and she said she thought she could change him. To Nightstorm, this was a load of fox-dung. But she couldn't say this to Flyingcloud. Only a few moons after the she-cat had kitted, Shadowheart had killed her and two of her kits. Nightstorm believed Shadedpaw wasn't evil because she had known his mother, but every time she looked at the apprentice she felt a burning hatred for Shadowheart ignite within her.

"But would he have taken safety measures for in case someone figured out his plan?" Lightfire wondered. "We don't know that he has."

Nightstorm thought for a moment. "I really don't know. But then again, though evil, Shadowheart isn't mouse-brained."

"Uh…guys," Dapplepaw broke in. "We should really stop talking and get back to work now." The she-cat motioned towards something with her head, but Nightstorm and the others ignored her.

"Stop talking? Get back to work?" Crowflight asked. "What do you mean? We have to stop Shadowheart from going through with his oh-so-brilliant plan."

"But guys…"

"Yah," Lightfire agreed. "He can't succeed if everyone knows about his plot, can he? I didn't think so."

Suddenly, a voice erupted from behind the four cats. "Which is why I can't let you tell."

OoOoO

_In AirClan…_

Flyingcloud sighed. Soon would come the time to tell the kits what their jobs would be… and also the time to tell Skykit of what had happened…Shadowheart's horrible past. But she wouldn't learn it all from Flyingcloud. Shadedpaw played a big part in this.

"Flyingcloud," meowed a voice. "You won't believe what Shadowheart is going to do now."

_Minutes later…_

"Kidnapping. He's resorted to kidnapping." Flyingcloud was still in shock. "Slavery?! What is he thinking?"

"He WAS your mate," Dustypelt murmured. "You were the one who thought you could change him."

"He said he might want to change. So I thought 'why not try?' Is trying to bring someone to the good side such a bad thing? I had no idea he was the Controller." Now Flyingcloud was angry.

"It's not your fault," Cloudstreak purred softly. Then more loudly, "Dustypelt, what's done is done and it's not up to AirClan to point fingers, in case you didn't know."

Flyingcloud purred softly. Then her fur bristled. Something was forming itself in the DestinyPool. In the picture, Shadedpaw stood rigid. Skykit was tied up with strong ropes. Both were in a cave. Shadowheart stood outside, locked out of the cave by some invisible force. "Deliver her to me!" the controller spat, his eyes burning with anger. Then suddenly, he was calm. His eyes began to gleam a piercing yellow that seemed to envelop Shadedpaw. Now the apprentice seemed to be in a trance. "Deliver her to me," Shadowheart meowed softly. And Shadedpaw turned to Skykit. Then the picture became foggy and faded away.

Flyingcloud gasped. "No!"

The rest of AirClan turned to her. "What is it?" Cloudstreak asked.

Flyingcloud quickly explained the vision. She gulped. "Do you think…that Shadowheart controls…ygrkipomagen?"

There was a gasp as she said the word.

"No," Cloudstreak said in shock. "It can't be. But…it is."

* * *

**A/N: Hehehe, betcha don't know what ygrkipomagen is…but you'll find out soon. I can't decide, so I'm taking a poll. For Silverkit's warrior name, which is better?**

**Silverstreak or Silverpool?**

**And I will update upon receiving…hm…let's say 170 reviews because I got more than ten last time. So R&R and cast your vote!**

**-Aviation-**


	17. Untold Knowledge

**A/N: Ok, getting 170 reviews actually took…well…not very long. Good. Here's a nice long chapter. And here's a new interactive thingy: If you wanna submit an evil character, I take one evil character per reviewer. It can't be the controller, but these are going to be evil characters that are higher-ranking. So remember, one per reviewer please. Enjoy! Oh and sorry it took so long to update…I was gone almost all day Sunday, and part of the day Monday, and I'm gonna be gone for most of the day today too, but I got up early (for the summer) to post a chapter. :D  
**

* * *

"So do you?" Goldenheart asked again.

Icestream jumped. "What?"

"Do you believe in innocence with second chances?"

Icestream sighed. "No," she answered, "no I don't."

"Because of Shadowheart?"

It was a if the golden she-cat could sense Icestream's thoughts. "Well…ur…"

"But he's only one cat," Goldenheart pointed out.

Icestream looked away.

"There are other cats, aren't there?" Goldenheart guessed correctly.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now," the silver she-cat replied gruffly.

"You know I'll always be here for you," Goldenheart purred gently. "Even if it's not physically, I'll be there spiritually."

There was little comfort to be found in Goldenheart's words. The golden she-cat had been Icestream's mentor, in a way, teaching her to be a traveler when her real mentor went missing. They had never found Frostwing, or either of her kits. But Goldenheart had taken Icestream under her wing and taught her almost everything she knew, so Icestream felt as though she could tell the golden she-cat anything. But this – this was different. She hadn't told anyone about what Darkpaw and Adderstrike had done, because as long as they didn't do it again, no one needed to know. Maybe she would tell her apprentice, if she ever had one.

A mrrow of happiness jerked Icestream back into the real world. A tortoiseshell she-cat ran to the two travelers, her eyes dancing amber pools. "Icestream! Good to see you!"

"You too, Swanpaw," Icestream purred.

Swanpaw's lively expression darkened. "Come this way. There are things you must know and no time to waste."

Icestream followed Swanpaw through the dusty camp. AuraClan's camp was pretty much a dry, sandy desert with several rock caves and a tiny mound of prey in the middle. Soon they came to a deep and dark-looking cave that bore into the ground. Swanpaw disappeared inside.

Icestream looked once around the camp. Most she-cats lay quietly, some of the young ones crying desperately for lack of food. The famine was making it impossible for the hunters to gather enough food. Icestream would have to get several other travelers to go to the river with her sometime soon. Though hunters were usually the ones who did most of the food-gathering, in times of famine, travelers went to the Bone River. The Bone River was a dangerous place, so cats only went there because all the prey was more than double the regular size. But this also meant all other animals, like dogs, foxes, and badgers, were larger than life too. The river also had a strange magical property-not ygrkipomagen, but something else entirely, and not even the best of the medicine cats could tell if the property was good or evil. Only travelers could navigate the maze of tunnels and get through the horrible dangers on the way to the river, and some travelers didn't even make it. It was on such a trip that Frostwing had disappeared. She'd been taking her own two kits to the river, in an effort to save their lives after she was wounded so she could give them no milk and Shadowheart forbade any other she-cats to suckle them. Frostwing had fallen into the river with her kits, and though the water was clear, the minute they went under the water it was as if the three cats had never existed. And Frostwing was one of the best travelers, at that time the leader. So not even travelers could go there safely.

Swanpaw's head reappeared from the cave, her amber eyes glinting in the darkness. "Icestream, are you coming?"

"Oh, yah, sorry." Icestream made a mental note to talk to Eagleheart, the head traveler, at a later time, and then padded into the cave.

When she reached the end of the cave, she found Goldenheart and Swanpaw already settled there, along with Amberpaw, Smokymask, Grassfur, and Feathercloud. "So?" Icestream asked. "What is this knowledge?"

Goldenheart spoke quietly. "I know some of it…but not all. Flyingcloud and Cloudstreak are going to speak to us."

"What do you know?" Swanpaw prodded gently.

"First…well, think about it. The resistance has more cats than Shadowheart has. So how has evil held its reign through all these seasons? They must have a power greater than anything we can imagine." Goldenheart looked at Icestream. "Second, cats have been disappearing every day. If Skykit is to lead the resistance, she must start _now_. We can't wait until she's an apprentice."

"But it's only less than a moon," Amberpaw broke in, confused.

The golden medicine cat looked at her paws. "According to Flyingcloud, we don't have that long. We need a leader NOW. And who better to mentor a leader than a traveler?"

Now all eyes rested on Icestream. "But shouldn't Eagleheart do it?" the silver warrior asked. "She's the head traveler, and she will be in Skykit's Clan. I won't."

"Cloudstreak told me that Eagleheart is destined to join the ranks of AirClan before two sunrises pass," Goldenheart stated, her voice grave. "You must lead the travelers. And you must be a mentor to Skykit. We can get around the Clan problem."

Icestream sighed. She's wanted an apprentice but this was a big assignment. But if AirClan thought she could do it…maybe she could.

Suddenly, the cave was illuminated with an intense light. Icestream had to squint to see through it. Standing before them were Cloudstreak and Flyingcloud.

Cloudstreak stepped forwards. Her bright blue eyes glinted with untole knowledge. "Greetings, my brave friends. I have news to tell you, but it's certainly not good."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this wasn't too long...but it wasn't that short. And don't worry, I'm going to make longer and longer chapters... but hehehe, cliffy! And the next chapter goes to Skykit's POV then it's Nighstorm's and Dapplepaw's POV and then one other POV and THEN back to Icestream. Hehe I'm evil. Anyway, next update comes when I have 190 reviews. R&R plz! And everyone who reviews this chapter gets Shadedpaw's warrior name. R&R!**


	18. Jobs at last

**A/N: Wow that was fast. Oh, I added a couple new pages to my Reach for the Sky website (my homepage) so you guys can check that out if you want (WARNING: Website has major spoilers). And I replied to a review (I forgot whose) and said I'd update soon as long as my computer didn't have any problems. I think I jinxed it because up until like twenty minutes ago, whenever I went on the internet it kicked me off and whenever I typed the letter 'w' anywhere it got me out of my program. I'm not going to say anything about computer problems anymore because then I'll have them…sry about that. Anyway, here's the chapter, not long but moving and pretty -sobs- sad...**

"We'll go in groups," Rainstorm decided. "Toms first."

Skykit watched as Cardinalsong stepped forwards, leading all of the tom kits - Clawkit, Bark-kit, Lynxkit, Badgerkit, and Goldkit. "Come on, slowly," she heard the warrior meow. Soon they were gone into the mist. Skykit padded over to Rainstorm.

"Rainstorm..." she began.

"Yes?" 

"How long will this take?"

"For one cat, it's usually about twenty or thirty seconds, no more than a minute, because all AirClan does is tell them what their job is. If the cat is going to be a medicine cat-herb giver cat, they might get a prophecy. We'll be back before sunrise tomorrow, I'm sure," Rainstorm meowed.

Skykit sighed, sitting down. Still, this would take a while. The kit looked up at the nighttime sky, her eyes scanning the stars for some kind of sign. Tonight seemed ominous, even with all the beauty. Skykit wondered if it had to do with Shadedpaw or Shadowheart. Then she saw a star appear as if out of nowhere…but it wasn't a star. It seemed to be a ghost of a star. Skykit realized she must be having a vision. The star got bigger and inside she saw three cats. One was ginger and white and looked like a warrior…or a queen? Beside her sat two kits, one ginger and one white. Then the white kit seemed to speak to her, but Skykit heard the words form inside her head, and obviously no one else could see or hear this. _Look for us,_ the white kit said. _We must speak to you about the Dark Prince. And ygrkipomagen. _Then the star and the cats melted away.

With a yowl of distress, Skykit called out, "Wait!" The other cats turned to look at her. "No, not you, I thought I saw a mouse," she lied, breathing a sigh of relief as the cats went back to their idle chit-chat.

_Dark Prince?_ Skykit thought. _Shadedpaw?_ Something made her feel that she was right. But what was ygrkipomagen?

Meanwhile, the tom kits had returned. Rainstorm took charge. "Messengers will come over here by me. Lookouts will go to Cardinalsong. Herb-givers go over by the little pile of sand, hunters go to that rock over there, and if we have any travelers, they can stand by the edge of the mist. Now Leafwing will take all the she-cats who will be in FishClan to the Mist Pool."

Skykit sighed. She'd be in BirdClan...but Silverkit was in FishClan. "Good luck!" she whispered as her sister padded by. Silverkit was obviously nervous

The white she-cat with large yellow eyes motioned to Skykit with her tail. "Hey Skykit!" she meowed. "Remember me? I'm Owlkit. All the kits for BirdClan are going to meet each other."

Skykit padded over to the group of kits. "Hi," she meowed tentatively. "You probably know I'm Skykit."

A light gray she-cat turned around. "Hi Skykit, you know Owlkit, and I'm Thrushkit, and this is Sparrowkit."

Sparrowkit was a blue-gray she-cat who stared at Skykit in wonder. "You're going to lead the resistance?"

"Well, yes, I suppose…" Skykit began.

The other three kits immediately bombarded Skykit with questions. 

"Do you get visions?"

"When do you start leading?"

"Who's second in command?"

"You have three sisters, right?"

"Do you hate Shadowheart?"

"Shadowheart kidnapped you, right?"

"Do you know why?"

"What were the other Clans like?"

"She-cats and toms were in the SAME clan?!"

"There was no organization by pelt color?"

"You got to stay with your parents?"

"There was no controller?"

"There's another ancestor Clan?"

"What's your mother's name?"

"What's your father's name?"

"Did you have any friends in the Clans?"

"What Clan were you in?"

Skykit looked back and forth from kit to kit until she got dizzy. "Wait!" she broke in. "I can't answer your questions if you all ask them at once, so one at a time please. Um…Thrushkit first."

Thrushkit purred before asking a question. "Do you want to go back to the four Clans you were born in?"

Skykit thought for a minute. "I don't know," she answered finally. "I'll have to see what I think after Shadowheart has been defeated."

"Can I go next?" begged Owlkit.

"Is that your question?" Skykit asked.

"No!"

Skykit mrrowed laughingly. "Alright, go ahead."

"You really think we'll be able to win?"

"Maybe we will, maybe we won't. Personally I really hope we do. Yes, I think we'll win," Skykit meowed.

Sparrowkit was next. "What if you get stuck in a battle and it's you and your three sisters against twelve of Shadowheart's cronies? And you either fight or surrender to his will. What would you do?"

Skykit answered immediately. "I'd rather go down fighting valiantly than surrender to his will. Wouldn't you?"

A dark brown she-cat padded over to the group of kits. "Hi, I'm Marshkit. Do you mind if all the kits join you over here? We're getting bored."

"I don't mind," Skykit meowed.

"Me either," chorused Owlkit, Thrushkit, and Sparrowkit.

Marshkit purred. "Alright, come on over guys!"

The rest of the kits padded over to them. One that Skykit recognized as Bushkit seemed incredibly excited, hopping up and down. "Are you as excited as I am?" the kit asked. "I wanna be a hunter! What do you want to be?!" Bushkit didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular so Skykit, motioning for Owlkit, Sparrowkit, and Thrushkit to follow, padded over to a small rock.

"What are we doing here?" Sparrowkit asked.

Skykit jumped up onto the rock. "I'm going to see if I can find Stormkit and Rabbitkit."

Soon she spotted Rabbitkit and Stormkit talking to a tiny black she-cat. "Rabbitkit! Stormkit!" she called. Her sisters looked up, as did the smaller she-cat. "Over here!" The three cats began to weave their way through the crowd as Skykit dropped down from the rock.

"Hi guys," Skykit purred. "I'll do introductions. I'm Skykit, this is Stormkit, Rabbitkit, Owlkit, Sparrowkit, Thrushkitk, and..." Skykit racked her brain for the small she-cat's name. "Pygmykit?"

The tiny black she-cat purred quietly. "You actually remembered! Never thought anyone would with all these introductions!"

Skykit mrrowed laughingly. "So, what do each of you want to be for your job? I'm not quite sure yet, but I have a good idea."

"I want to be a lookout," Owlkit meowed. "I was named for my somewhat owl-like eyes, it's easy for me to see anywhere, anytime, even in the pitch black of the night."

"I want to be a hunter," Sparrowkit and Thrushkit purred simultaneously, then turned to each other. "You want to be a hunter too?" they both asked.

Skykit chuckled softly as Stormkit spoke. "I wanna be a hunter too! It sounds fun, having to catch enough prey for two sets of Clans! It'd be AWESOME!"

"I think I want to be a lookout," Rabbitkit meowed. "I'd like to be able to warn my Clanmates of danger and help out."

Pygmykit sighed. "I have absolutely no idea what I want to be. But what about you, Skykit?"

Skykit looked at the six other kits slowly. It had only taken her a few minutes after she really started thinking about it to realize what she wanted to be. "I want to be a…"

Rainstorm's meow broke in to Skykit's statement. "Kits from FishClan, welcome back!"

Skykit immediately scanned the cats for Silverkit and soon found her sister already padding towards her.

"Silverkit, what'd you get?" Stormkit asked hyperly, practically jumping up and down.

"I'm going to be a messenger," Silverkit murmured shyly, though Skykit could tell she was excited.

"Congratulations," Skykit purred. "I bet you'll love it. Are there any other messengers in your Clan?"

"Oh yes." Silverkit bobbed her head up and down. "Troutkit, Lightkit, and Rock-kit are all messengers too."

"Did everyone get what they wanted?" Rabbitkit asked.

"No." Silverkit sighed. "Pikekit is fast and sneaky, so she is going to be a traveler, but she's also kinda jumpy and scared, and being a traveler is hard."

Skykit nodded, but she didn't understand what was so bad about being a traveler. But Rabbitkit purred understandingly. "It seems like most cats are scared of being travelers," the light brown she-cat meowed.

"All cats who are to be in RabbitClan please follow me!" yowled a pretty brown she-cat with white splotches that Skykit recognized as Cottontail.

"THAT'S US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Stormkit yowled at the top of her lungs. "Come on Pygmykit!" The dark she-cat raced of as fast as her legs could carry her and barreled into Cottontail, who was toppled over by the force of the impact. Skykit could barely contain a howl of laughter, and it seemed as thought the same was true for every other cat on this patrol.

A white warrior padded up to the group of cats. "Hi, if you don't remember me I'm Snowcloud, and I'm going to take all the cats that will be in BirdClan to the Mist Pool. Are you four all of them?" Snowcloud motioned to Skykit, Owlkit, Thrushkit, and Sparrowkit.

"Yep," Skykit answered. "What other apprentices are in BirdClan?"

"Other than you four, who aren't apprentices yet, there's only one other," Snowcloud meowed with a shudder. "You met her tonight."

Owlkit seemed to shrink. "Webpaw? She's going to train with us?"

"I guess it's one of those sad facts of life," Skykit meowed, trying to cheer the others up. "Come on, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Sparrowkit stared at Skykit in awe. "She's Shadowheart's daughter! I'll admit that Shadedpaw isn't really that bad, but Webpaw is HORRIBLE!"

"I know, I didn't mean I thought she was nice, I just meant it's not like we'll be training with her constantly," Skykit meowed.

"True, true," Snowcloud said. "The good thing about her is that Shrewfur is her mentor, which takes care of the accomplices in BirdClan, and we're going to try and keep her an apprentice as long as we can."

"Hiya!" Skykit felt something land on her and pin her down.

"Get off, Stormkit," she purred laughingly. "I expect you got hunter?"

"YES I DID YES I DID YES I DID! YAY!"

Skykit waited for the call. It came sooner than she thought it would. "Welcome back RabbitClan cats, and all cats for SquirrelClan will leave now with Firepool."

"Wish me luck," Rabbitkit purred, padding away.

By now Stormkit was quiet – a real shocker. "What's wrong?" Skykit asked.

Stormkit sighed. "Pygmykit's a travler."

"But it's not like it's the end of the world or anything," Pygmykit laughed. "It might be fun."

"That's the kind of attitude we need more of," Skykit mewoed.

OoOoO

It seemed like only seconds since Rabbitkit left that she was back, proudly carrying the title of 'lookout in training'. Though Skykit was happy for her sister, she was still anxious. _Look for those three cats, _she reminded herself. Then the yowl came all too soon.

"All cats for BirdClan leave with Snowcloud!"

**A/N: Haha, cliffie! Well, I'll update once I have let's say 112 reviews, so R&R please!**


	19. Bad News and Unfortunate Circumstances

**A/N: Isn't suspense **_**fun!**_** I could keep you hanging more by going to an entirely separate point of view, but I think I'll cut at least SOME of the suspense...here's a chapter from the POV of Nightstorm and Dapplepaw, and then goes to Flyingcloud in AirClan, then back to Dapplepaw, but then the end is in the POV of...let's just say someone else. And also...this chapter is fairly good and long in my opinion, but I think I'm going to try and make the rest of the chapters this long or longer (ten pages in size ten font on WordPad at the least, though this was only seven), so sorry but updates will come probably every two days or so now. But please keep reviewing! Enjoy the chapter!**

"Don't try to run or escape or anything like that," Shadowheart hissed. "You're completely surrounded."

Dapplepaw sighed softly. Why did no one ever listen to her? Sure, Nightstorm, Crowflight, and Lightfire were brave, but it probably wouldn't do them any good now. "Where are you taking us?" she demanded, instantly regretting it as a black she-cat with amber eyes leapt on her and pinned her down.

"Blackclaw, stay off for now," Shadowheart meowed calmly, and then turned to Dapplepaw. "I don't know your name so I'll call you Scum. Well the place we're taking you is a secret. The outside Clans are no longer the place cats go when they are banished. And since this process that you will go through, what we like to call a form of ygrkipomagen, will make it impossible to disobey our orders in forbidding you to reveal any information, I might as well rant in your faces." 

Dapplepaw walked on slowly, her eyes studying her paws so Shadowheart wouldn't see the intense anger bubbling within them. The ground was dusty where there were no leaves; there hadn't been rain in quite a while. Dapplepaw wondered for a few seconds if Shadowheart had anything to do with it. No, cats couldn't control the weather. Then Shadowheart started to speak again.

"Do you want to know why the kits were kidnapped? Wait, you already know," he spat. "For scorching. If I am to win, Shadedpaw must scorch the four cats from ThunderClan. And so he will."

Dapplepaw suppressed a nerve shattering hiss.

"And soon we will wage war against your little resistance. All of my cats, the ones on my side, are now in a Clan called PowerClan. How will you fight us, form a Clan of your own? But wait, you can't because you four are the only ones who know what's going on. Too bad," Shadowheart purred much too softly for comfort. "Scum, look at me when I speak to you!"

Dapplepaw tried in vain to hide the anger smoldering in her eyes as she looked at Shadowheart but he obviously detected it. "WHAT is that I see in your eyes? Anger? Well anger can't be tolerated. Darkclaw!"

The black she-cat padded up to Dapplepaw, an evil glint in her amber eyes. She quickly raised her paw and brought it down. Dapplepaw felt a thump on her head and then everything went black...

OoOoO

Nightstorm watched what they did to Dapplepaw in horror. With their superior numbers, Shadowheart's vile forces could easily take the resistance. But one resistance cat against four of Shadowheart's cronies would come out victorious. Each resistance cat could take about four others if trained as a traveler. Others could take two or three. But the odds were slim now. Shadowheart could kidnap and hypnotize their cats, making his forces grow considerably should he wish it.

"Now, as you can probably guess, many cats are to become my slaves soon. You four are certainly not the first. But I'm not sure I should wipe your memories. It might be more fun if you know what's going to happen to your precious resistance and can't stop it," Shadowheart meowed.

Nightstorm was ready to leap out and claw out Shadowheart's eyes, but she was outnumbered...right? The she-cat looked around slowly, her eyes silently taking count of each of the members of PowerClan surrounding them. There were twelve plus Shadowheart. One of them MIGHT have been able to escape if they still had Dapplepaw. Nightstorm couldn't believe it - Dapplepaw had been knocked out because she got _angry_?! It was probably the most mouse-brained thing she had ever heard. She herself didn't have the best temper, which could prove disastrous. Hopefully someone would notice their being dragged away...but looking around once more she saw that there were no other cats in sight. _How mysterious..._

OoOoO

(A/N: In AirClan...)

Flyingcloud sat silently, watching the scene unfold below her. Dapplepaw, Nightstorm, Lightfire, and Crowflight were hopelessly outnumbered. THAT much was obvious. And Shadowheart most definitely possessed ygrkipomagen. He couldn't use it on cats with very strong minds, so Skykit would probably be safe. But what about Shadedpaw? Flyingcloud didn't believe that her son would do such a thing. But could he resist ygrkipomagen?

"Mother?"

Flyingcloud turned around to see a white she-cat staring at her. "Yes Breezekit?"

"What is scorching?"

The white and ginger queen shuddered. "Scorching is a horrible process that, first and foremost, robs cats of the ability to make decisions. They will do whatever they are ordered to do. They cannot die for twenty-eight moons after the scorching, but their fate is worse than death. They are in constant pain, and the scorcher controls the intensity of the pain. After the twenty-eight moons are up, the cat dies instantly and is sent to AirClan. Oh, and it can't happen to evil cats, only to good ones. That's the saddest part."

"But mother," asked a small ginger she-cat, padding up beside Breezekit, "how could anyone do such a thing?"

"Only descendants of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar can do it, and we don't quite understand how they do it, Emberkit" Flyingcloud meowed. "Apparently it just comes with heritage, whether the cat likes it or not."

"Doesn't that mean we could do it?" meowed Emberkit.

Flyingcloud thought for a moment. "No it doesn't," she answered. "You two are pure good, and only cats with evil in them that have been born evil can scorch. So don't you worry about that. Now off to bed." The two young kits raced off and Flyingcloud padded over to where Cloudstreak sat, looking into the vision pool where former medicine cats could see important things in times of great crisis.

"Flyingcloud?" the gray and white she-cat meowed without looking up. "Did you tell your kits about scorching? I thought I could hear your discussion but I wasn't quite sure."

"Yes, I did."

"But you said that only cats with evil in them that were born evil could scorch."

"Isn't that true?" Flyingcloud sat down, confused.

"Yes, I suppose it's partially true, because the scorcher must have evil in them, but they don't have to be born evil. If the cat is vulnerable to ygrkipomagen, which most cats are, and someone, say Shadowheart, were to practice ygrkipomagen on someone not born evil, say myself for the purpose of example, then he could make me evil with his dark magic and I would be able to scorch, if I were of the right bloodlines for such things."

Flyingcloud shivered violently. "So...so...so...if Shadedpaw is vulnerable to ygrkipomagen, which 99 percent of cats are, then he can be forced to practice scorching. With those odds, he IS vulnerable to it, and there is no cure for the effects scorching has."

Cloudstreak didn't speak, but instead concentrated on looking at the vision pool for a few moments. Then she looked up at Flyingcloud. "You are wrong on two counts. First, I'm not completely sure, but I don't believe Shadedpaw is vulnerable to ygrkipomagen. That's the good thing about heritage; none of Wretchedstar's or Wickedstar's descendants have been vulnerable to it so far. And second, as I just saw, there _is_ one way to reverse the effects."

OoOoO

"Huh? What happened?" Dapplepaw opened her eyes to find herself in a really dark cave, where she couldn't see a thing. Slowly, she pulled herself to her paws, and then felt a dull throbbing sensation in her head.

"Dapplepaw? You're awake?"

"Who's there?"

"Just me, Nightstorm. It's been a full day since you were knocked out; you were unconscious for a long time."

Dapplepaw could just barely make out her friend's glowing amber eyes in the dark. "I think I'm alright, but my head hurts a lot."

Dapplepaw heard Nightstorm sigh. "You're going to have to get used to it. There's no way out."

"WHAT?!"

"Remember how Shadowheart was trying to capture us?"

Slowly, the events of the previous day resurfaced in Dapplepaw's mind. "Yes, I think so."

"Well, he succeeded. We're prisoners and...Well..."

Fear began to creep up on Dapplepaw, its icy clutches grasping at her. "Well what?"

"Shadowheart possesses ygrkipomagen. And during the day he uses it to control our actions and make us work for him. In BearClan's regular territory, he's building a fortress. There's going to be a war, Dapplepaw. A WAR!"

"War? We can't handle war if no one else knows it's going to happen. And if dark magic is involved...do we even stand a chance?" Dapplepaw felt herself begin to panic but forced the thoughts away. "We HAVE to find a way out."

Nightstorm sighed again. "That's the other bad news. We're in underground tunnels mining rocks for Shadowheart's fortress, there's no way out that isn't guarded."

"You can't just give up!"

"We aren't going to! We just don't know what to do."

Dapplepaw lay back down glumly. Things DEFINITELY weren't looking good. "But what about Lightfire and Crowflight?"

Nightstorm turned towards a darker area that Dapplepaw presumed led to a passageway. "They'll be back soon; they're still working."

"How do you work here?"

The dark warrior answered without turning around. "Well there are three working 'sections', section A, section B and section C. Section A, which I'm on, does regular mining. We dig rocks out of the darkest passageways, using our claws, paws, and teeth, to drag the rocks to the main chamber. In the main chamber, which is a really large cavern, we take the rocks to the heavily guarded Outside Access Area, or OAA, which is a tunnel leading out of the caves - the only one. Then one of Shadowheart's cronies that isn't being mind controlled and is really on his side will come down and drag the rock back up. Section B, which Lightfire is on, drags the rocks to the site where Shadowheart is building his fortress. Section C, which Crowflight is on, uses thick mud to plaster the rocks onto the fortress, which is like several big walls together. Each has two shifts. I'm on the first shift, so I work in the morning. Crowflight and Lightfire are each on the second shift, so they work in the afternoon, which it is now. And as soon as your shift is over, you are escorted to your 'cell', where you sleep at night and spend half the day, and Shadowheart lifts the ygrkipomagen. You're forced into the cell and a really big boulder is rolled in front of it. It's really horrible, and to eat we get two scrawny mice each. So we aren't just prisoners, we're slaves."

Dapplepaw sighed. It just kept getting worse and worse. But Nightstorm wasn't done.

"Dapplepaw?"

"Yah?"

"You haven't heard the worst part yet."

OoOoO

(A/N: And now the POV of...Shadedpaw! YAY!)

Shadedpaw lay motionless on the ground. The cats holding him down had decided just to surround him, but if he made one move to get up he would be attacked. That was apparently how things went. Why couldn't they trust him? He would never do anything to help Shadowheart. His father's cause was vile and deceitful, and not worthy of even being called a cause. He had heard that they were resorting to dark magic to hypnotize cats. Shadedpaw desperately hoped that Shadowheart wouldn't try his magic on the kit who would lead the resistance, Skykit was her name. The kit had done a good job of acting when Webpaw had come, and with practice she could easily fool a mouse-brain like Webpaw. Well, Webpaw was kind of smart, but she'd believe a plausible story if the one telling it wasn't acting suspicious. And the time he had first met her, in the woods, she had seemed brave. At first she too had mistrusted him, but she wasn't nearly as bad as any of the others. She'd also seemed shocked when the resistance tom had ordered several other cats to restrain him. Maybe she wasn't like the others. But then again, she was the chosen one to lead the resistance, so she obviously wouldn't be like the others. Still...Shadedpaw knew Rainstorm and Nightstorm both believed he didn't work for Shadowheart, but all the same neither really truly trusted him. Skykit seemed as though she did trust him. And plus, she'd stopped all the other cats from attacking, which could have been messy. Shadedpaw purred too softly for any of the other cats to hear. They were all so scared of him, but there was no need to be. Then Aspenfur murmured something to Stormfeather. Shadedpaw strained his ears to catch it.

"I really don't think we should present the option o a blood oath," Aspenfur was saying.

Stormfeather glanced quickly at Shadedpaw. "He _is_ just an apprentice and only six and a half moons old at that. He must be very tired," replied the black tabby warrior.

Aspenfur thought for a moment. "We'll ask Huntingtooth," he decided.

Instead of listening to the rest of the conversation, Shadedpaw slowly stretched his legs, hoping that they'd allow him to leave. After a few moments, he heard Huntingtooth's gruff voice. _Here we go again,_ thought Shadedpaw glumly.

"Get up," Huntingtooth hissed. Shadedpaw pulled himself to his paws. "If you'll take a blood oath not to reveal the goings on of the past few hours or of what has happened any of tonight OR the location of the Mist Pool, you will be allowed to leave."

Shadedpaw thought silently, and then turned toward the dark brown tabby tom. "How is the blood oath performed?" he asked.

Huntingtooth sighed. "One of us will lightly scratch your foreleg with one of our claws, just enough to draw blood."

_Yah, sure. Next you'll be telling me Twolegs are my friends and that my sister Webpaw is a badger in disguise. Oh wait, _though Shadedpaw sarcastically, _she actually might be._

"Then," continued Huntingtooth, "you must swear by AirClan that you will not reveal the goings on of tonight to anyone on the side of Shadowheart and that you will never reveal the location of the Mist Pool to anyone."

_Why would I?_ thought Shadedpaw. _All the good this is doing is that I end up wounded._

"So will you take the oath?"

Shadedpaw sighed. "Alright, I will."

"Hold out your right foreleg," Aspenfur ordered. Shadedpaw did so.

Huntingtooh raised his claws and quickly scraped them across Shadedpaw's leg, leaving a much-deeper-than-necessary cut. Shadedpaw bit back a yowl. "Now," Huntingtooh ordered, "place your wounded paw on this rock over here."

Shadedpaw gingerly lifted his paw and set it on the rock in front of him.

"Repeat after me," Huntingtooth began, but Shadedpaw broke in.

"I know what to do, it's alright."

"Then do it."

_This is absolutely mouse-brained_, though Shadedpaw, but he began anyway. "I, Shadedpaw, do hereby swear not to reveal to any living soul the goings on of this night nor the whereabouts of the location known as the Mist Pool. I swear this to be true by AirClan themselves."

With a grunt, Huntingtooth meowed," Alright, you can go." Then he turned to the rest of the cats surrounding Shadedpaw. "Break formation."

As soon as the cats moved away, Shadedpaw nodded his head respectfully and padded off quickly. As soon as he was out of their sight, he broke into a run. He HAD to get to a medicine cat that would trust him and not question him before anyone saw him, or it would look very suspicious. After all, he was tired and wounded, as if he'd been in a fight, and no one would believe otherwise. Technically, why should they? Shadowheart's cronies thought all anyone ever did was fight -most of them, anyway-, and the resistance would think he'd killed some innocent kit, neither of which was true. Was it so impossible to forget heritage and trust a cat for their actions instead of what everyone assumed about them?

As soon as he reached the camp, Shadedpaw stopped, looking around for anyone who would help him. Shadedpaw knew who was of the resistance and who was not, making him seem like even more of a threat to the resistance. _But couldn't I help them by telling them who Shadowheart's cronies are?_ he'd always thought. He saw Cloudfur of WolfClan, but the tom was of the resistance and didn't trust Shadedpaw at all. Palefoot of FoxClan wasn't prejudiced, but he was busy with Braveheart. Both Crookedstump and Whitebelly were accomplices. _I can't trust Shadowheart's cronies, but the resistance won't trust me. I'm alone. _Thoughts like this haunted Shadedpaw's mind every day, but there was no real way around them. Falconheart didn't trust him, Leafwing would probably tell somebody else, Broompelt was wary of all toms, and Whitewhisker wasn't in the camp. There were no medicine cats to go to. Except...there WAS the RabbitClan elder Deerfeather who used to be a medicine cat but had retired because of injury. She was a member of the resistance but she was against all the prejudice and would probably help him. Not wanting to arouse suspicion by walking straight through the camp, Shadedpaw limped around the camp the long way to the RabbitClan elders' den. Hopefully Pricklefur wasn't there. The she-cat was Shadedpaw's grandmother, Shadowheart's mother, and an accomplice who would tell Shadowheart anything she found out. Shadedpaw stood outside the den and sniffed quickly. He caught the scent of Tufttail, an old but kind she-cat who wouldn't be trouble, and Deerfeather, but Pricklefur wasn't there. Sighing with relief, Shadedpaw padded into the den.

Deerfeather looked up quickly. "Shadedpaw, what happened?" Tufttail was sound asleep, so Shadedpaw carefully stepped over her.

"Nothing important, just a scratch," he meowed. "But with the way cats are these days they'd probably assume I was in a fight because I'm tired and hurt, while I was just stuck in the woods for a while and had a hard time getting out." It wasn't a complete lie, because he HAD been stuck in the woods and he definitely had had a hard time getting out. "So for that reason I didn't go to the regular medicine cats...could you help me?"

Deerfeather purred warmly. "Of course, dear. I have some goldenrod in the back of the den because it smells so lovely, and that's good for wounds, so I'll give you some of that." While she talked, Deerfeather padded to the back of the den and collected some goldenrod leaves, and then she chewed them into a pulp. "Now hold out your leg, dear. That's good; now I'm going to press this on then get some cobwebs." Deerfeather pressed the pulp onto Shadedpaw's foreleg, gently rubbing it into the wound. Shadedpaw winced. Maybe it was deeper than he'd thought. Soon the she-cat was back with cobwebs, which she wrapped around Shadedpaw's cut. "Alright dear, do you want any poppy seeds?"

"I'm fine, thank you for your help," Shadedpaw meowed. "I must be going now."

"Of course dear, you can always come to me for help. Remember to change the cobwebs every so often at first. Oh, goodbye!"

"Goodbye." Shadedpaw limped carefully out of the elders' den and towards his own den. Only his friend, Spikepaw, was there, and Darkpaw wasn't. The resistance knew that one of the apprentices in BearClan was evil, and obviously they assumed it to be him, but it was Darkpaw, who pretended not to take sides but was really one of Shadowheart's most trusted accomplices. He carried out a lot of the dirty work, and the resistance cats he 'took care of' never got to tell anyone of the treachery. Spikepaw, on the other hand, was a member of the resistance who had grown up with Shadedpaw and trusted him. It was hard to be a resistance member if you were in Shadowheart's Clan, that was for sure. Shadedpaw spent lots of time covering for his friend. Shadowheart knew there was a resistance but he didn't know who was in it. He thought most cats just didn't choose sides, which for the resistance was a very good thing.

"Shadedpaw, is that you?" Shadedpaw heard his friend meow.

"Yah, it's me." The black tom padded into the BearClan apprentices' den.

Spikepaw looked at Shadedpaw's leg and gasped. "What happened? I mean it's not that noticeable but from here I can tell it's bleeding a lot."

Shadedpaw sighed and sat down. "I'll tell you in a minute, but I'd better change the cobwebs."

"Here, let me help you," Spikepaw offered, rushing outside.

Shadedpaw gently pulled the cobwebs off the cut. The resistance sue hated him, but they weren't trying to be mean, they were just so scared of him that they would do anything to stop him from telling Shadowheart things like where the Mist Pool was or who was of the resistance and who was not. It certainly wasn't necesary, and he'd never tell, but he couldn't expect anyone to believe him, and they wouldn't. But all he really wanted to do was help the resistance. He could be a spy and tell them of Shadowheart's plans if they wanted, so really they were cheating themselves. _If my mother were still alive they might trust me, _he thought with a shudder, remembering how Flyingcloud and his other two sisters, Emberkit and Breezekit, had died. It was horrible...but his brother Taintedkit had also died that night. Taintedkit was evil like Webpaw and Shadowheart, but still...Shadedpaw shuddered. After his mother and two sisters had been brutally murdered, Shadedpaw had gotten really angry and lashed out at no one in particular. Taintedkit had been looking for a fight and leapt onto him. In self defense, Shadedpaw had...he gulped...killed his own brother. Though there was some evil magic about Taintedkit, Shadedpaw still couldn't forgive himself for the accident, for he hadn't meant to kill anyone. Shadowheart, however, had taken it as a sign that his son would be aggressive and murderous like himself, and hadn't been the least bit angry.

"Shadedpaw I have more cobwebs," Spikepaw announced, rushing into the den. "Here."

Shadedpaw stood still and let his friend wrap the cobwebs around his leg. "Thanks," he meowed gratefully.

Spikepaw sat down. "Now tell me what happened." Seeing that Shadedpaw was about to resist, he added, "You SAID you would."

"Alright," Shadedpaw relented, too tired to argue. "You know how the resistance took kits out for their assignments tonight?" Spikepaw nodded. "Well Skykit and her sisters were with them."

Spikepaw gasped and jumped up. "SHE clawed your leg?"

"No!" Shadedpaw mrrowed laughingly "It's a longer story than that! Now sit down." Spikepaw sat down.

"So there was a group of cats - Stormkit, Rabbitkit, Silverkit, Leafwing, Rainstorm, Roseheart, and Skykit. It was like the official patrol with the leaders in it and stuff. They left and Skykit left last. Webpaw came out just as Skykit was leaving and looked suspicious, so she started to follow her slowly. I knew if Webpaw found out the resistance would practically be shattered, so I raced ahead and a few minutes later, Webpaw leapt out at Skykit and demanded to know why she was out of camp, because kits aren't supposed to be. Because it was so sudden, Skykit didn't react right away and stuttered a bit, and I'm surprised she could even think. She told Webpaw she left to make dirt and Moonspirit said she could, but Webpaw didn't believe her so I stepped in and covered for her. Webpaw was still suspicious but she left. Then the rest of the patrol -all the cats with all the kits- came out claws unsheathed. Skykit made them sheath their claws, but she couldn't stop them from 'restraining me' while they went to the Mist Pool. So for almost an hour five or six cats were either holding me down or surrounding me. Then Aspenfur and Stormfeather decided to let me take a blood oath and the leader of the 'restrainers', Huntingtooth, agreed with them. So they said I had to swear by AirClan not to reveal what was going on or tell anyone where the Mist Pool was, and one of them would lightly claw my leg, then I could leave. So instead of waiting another hour, I decided to take the blood oath. But they clawed me really hard," Shadedpaw finished.

Spikepaw looked amused. "What's so funny?" Shadedpaw demanded.

"Well nothing, but you could have just said you saw the patrol and they thought you would tell so they made you take a blood oath and they cut you too hard," Spikepaw mrrowed.

"Yah I guess, but the long version is better."

"Oh...Shadedpaw?"

Shadedpaw detected the slightest trace of fear in his friend's voice. "What is it?"

"Well...you know some cats can scorch, right?"

Shadedpaw nodded. "But only if they were born evil and have evil in them."

"Well..." Spikepaw seemed reluctant to continue.

"What?!"

"It seems that if Shadowheart is controlling them with ygrkipomagen, which he actually possesses, then he can make any cat scorch another."

Shadedpaw gasped. Any cat could scorch now if dark magic was used on them!

"And there's something else..."

Shadedpaw sighed. "What could be worse?"

"We don't know why, but Shadowheart's been kidnapping cats. Lots of cats."

Shadedpaw studied his paws intently. What could all this mean?

**A/N: Well, even though it won't be my longest for the whole story, right now it's my longest. Did you like it? Surprising, huh? Who hates Shadowheart? And what do you think of Shadedpaw? Did anyone expect what happened to Dapplepaw, Nightstorm, Lightfire, and Crowflight, or was it a complete surprise? R&R and tell me! All reviewers for this chapter get...let's see...well the first two reviewers can choose one story they wrote and I will read and review to it. All the reviewers for this chapter get a Spikepaw plushy. Now then...I'll update in two days as long as I have 230 reviews. R&R!**


	20. Family Ties

**A/N: Wow. 230 reviews took FOREVER. Maybe there were computer problems or something. Because if you really think about it, I've gotten more reviews than that faster than that. But thanks to all who reviewed this chapter, I'm very glad you did. And I have story plans for almost all the books in Reach for the Sky so far...and here's the full summary for Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story, and the full summary for the next book, Shadows of the Night, is on my profile [Spoiler Warning! Well, I'll update again in two days if I get 245 reviews, and there's a contest at the bottom. Oh, has anyone reviewed every chapter and NOT gotten the warrior names for Skykit, Stormkit, Rabbitkit, and Silverkit?**

**And the official Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story summary:**

**Skykit and her sisters are kidnapped and forced into eight strange Clans. An air of mystery surrounds everyone there, and untold secrets make the tension so thick that it's like a stone wall. Follow Skykit from trying to find her way home to a desperate attempt to save her newfound friends from an impending danger and a seemingly unstoppable evil. But can she possibly do it? Maybe in time…but time seems to be something she hasn't got a lot of. Will Skykit ever succeed, with so many cats counting on her? **

**Like it? Well, here's the chapter.**

---Skykit's POV---

"Come on you guys, hurry!" meowed Snowcloud meowed. "Let's go!"

Skykit sighed. She was excited but nervous. "Well, you heard her, let's go!" she purred, racing off after Snowcloud, Owlkit, Thrushkit, and Sparrowkit at her heels. Then Skykit stopped abruptly. She'd lost sight of Snowcloud, for the warrior had entered the mist, which was much thicker than it looked. "Um...can any of you see?"

Thrushkit and Sparrowkit shook their heads, obviously scared, but Owlkit squinted her big yellow eyes that gave her the name 'owl' and looked around. "I see her!" the white she-cat meowed excitedly. "Follow me!"

Now the four cats raced off again, with Owlkit in the lead. When they reached Snowcloud, they saw that she seemed very worried. "Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot you're not used to the fog. Good eyes, Owlkit. Being a lookout myself, I can tell you that you would make an exceptional one, if that is the path AirClan has chosen for you." Owlkit purred happily. "Now let's keep going. We're almost there."

---Icestream's POV---

Icestream gasped. Cloudstreak had an odd resemblance to Skykit. Could they be related or something? No, it was impossible...right? But then Flyingcloud began to speak. "First, Shadowheart definitely possesses ygrkipomagen, and he has been using it to enslave cats, though we cannot reveal more than this, for the ygrkipomagen clouds our understanding. Also, Shadowheart has resorted to scorching."

There was a gasp. Scorching was one of the most vile, despicable things there was. Yet Shadowheart would do it just to have his way?

Cloudstreak stepped forwards. "There's something else. We don't know when or how, but there will be a war."

The eyes of the silver FishClan traveler moved to her paws. What had she heard about the war? Oh yah, before she'd left on this mission she'd seen Dapplepaw standing in front of Shadowheart's den listening instead of going to a warrior ceremony, so she'd ask the apprentice what she'd heard when she got back.

"And Icestream," meowed Cloudstreak. Icestream looked up. "You know you are to be the next lead traveler, right?"

Icestream nodded slowly.

"And you know you are to be Skykit's mentor, and be one of her main advisors when she leads the resistance, right?"

"Well yes to the mentoring thing but I didn't know anything about the second part. Shouldn't Goldenheart or someone do something like that?" Icestream looked for cats to agree with her, but all were silently studying their paws, or else the walls of the cave. Even Flyingcloud wouldn't look her in the eyes. "What'd I say?" she asked softly. "Is anything wrong? I mean, if it's AirClan's will I'll do it, I didn't mean I wouldn't."

With a sigh, Cloudstreak looked up. "That's not what this is about, it's something else, but it's really nothing you must worry about at the time. All we can afford to have on your mind is your mission. But if you see something suspicious, go after it."

_Well, your sudden silence and worries are something suspicious, so should I go after that?_ Icestream wanted to ask, but she kept quiet. One of the first things travelers learned was that the best way to get valuable information was not to ask for it, because it would make cats get scared and stop talking.

"So I'm not sure that you understand," Cloudstreak purred gently. "Though we don't know what, Skykit is right now mentally forming the beginnings of a plan, the one that will help us escape from the clutches of Shadowheart and his evil patrons and followers. It is your job to give her the information and support she needs to develop whatever this plan is and put it into action."

"Yes, I understand that," Icestream replied. "But suppose that there's a part of the plan that I don't believe will work. How can I support a plan that doesn't work?"

Flyingcloud looked amused, and Cloudstreak just started speaking again. "Then you test her."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about that." Testing was what travelers did to make sure that each others' plans were really do-able. They asked questions and made up all sorts of ridiculous problems that the maker of the plan had to find a way around. That was one of the ways in which travelers were ready for anything. The best travelers never panicked, not even in the face of death. The question for travelers was never '_Is_ there a solution?' It was always a simple matter of finding what that solution was.

"So is there anything else any of you wants to know?" Flyingcloud asked.

Icestream spoke up, for a question had been looming in her mind. "Why did you call us here? And why US and not someone else? Do you have specific reasons?"

"Yes," purred Flyingcloud. "Thanks for asking, I really like it when cats ask reasonable questions. Actually, there is a reason. Each of you will do something important in Skykit's plan, that much we can tell. All of you, Amberpaw, Smokymask, Feathercloud, Goldenheart, Swanpaw, and Icestream, play a part in this plan, though we don't know exactly what. Now we really must go, it's time for us to meet with some cats and tell them what their jobs are to be. Oh, and Icestream, stop there." Icestream sat back down, for she'd gotten up to leave with Goldenheart, Swanpaw, and the others. But they didn't wait; it was as if they couldn't hear Flyingcloud any longer.

"Yes?"

The voice Icestream heard was inside her head. She'd heard stories about how some cats could hear AirClan speaking to them in their own minds, but that was kind of hard to believe...until now. _You, _Flyingcloud's voice seemed to whisper, _must rethink. No innocence with second chances is not what the resistance is about. We are about loyalty and trust._

Icestream thought back to Flyingcloud instead of speaking - for some reason that felt right. _But with all Adderstrike and Darkpaw have done...and now that ygrkipomagen and scorching have come into play, what Shadedpaw COULD do, is horrible to think about._

The she-cat chose her words carefully, for Flyingcloud was Shadedpaw's mother. But then the AirClan mother started to...well...communicate her thoughts again. _One was and will be framed, _came the voice. _One is responsible for cats that have been maimed. And one is anything but tame. _(A/N: Sorry, cheesy prophecy but I couldn't think of anything else at the time.) _It's alright to tell of this prophecy._

A weird prophecy...Icestream shrugged off the feeling the prophecy gave her. One was framed? So two were real villains but one had been framed? _Which one?_ she asked, but Flyingcloud had disappeared. With another sigh, Icestream padded out of the cave.

"What took you so long?" asked Swanpaw.

_Well, AirClan showed me another prophecy, _Icestream began, but when looking around realized that she was supposed to talk. "Oh, sorry. AirClan showed me another prophecy. Well...um...Flyingcloud said something about Adderstrike, Darkpaw, and Shadedpaw." There was no way she was revealing what those three cats, or two of them, had done to her. "Then she said, 'One was and will be framed, one is responsible for cats that have been maimed, and one is anything but tame'. She also said that I could share this prophecy with others and get their opinion."

Goldenheart glanced at the sky wistfully. "Well, perhaps we can figure out the cat from the first statement, and therefore all the others. It says that the cat was and WILL BE framed, so what if we, or rather Icestream and the other regular Clan travelers, can do some detective work whenever a cat is accused of something to see if it is possible that they were framed."

The rest of the cats nodded slowly, and Icestream purred admiringly. She'd always admired Goldenheart's ability to make up a plan on the spot. She still didn't understand why someone more experienced wouldn't be Skykit's mentor, like Goldenheart or Eagleheart..._Eagleheart! _Something bad would happen to Eagleheart, so she couldn't mentor Skykit...was it the same with Goldenheart?!

---Skykit's POV---

Skykit stared in awe at the shimmering pool in front of her. The water seemed a mystic gray...but at the same time a very deep blue. And around it...well when Skykit had stepped onto the shores of the Mist Pool, she'd stepped out of a thick wall of mist. Yes, that's what it was, a wall. A wall of mist surrounded the pool, but about four fox-lengths from the edge of the pool the mist cleared, and the sky was perfectly visible. Any cat could see that the wall of mist was about three foxlengths above a cat's head, so until you got to the mist-pool it would seem utterly endless. But once you were there...the stars seemed clearer and more beautiful than ever.

Snowcloud sighed. "I remember my first time here, getting my job. Back then, Cloudstreak was alive. She led me here. You've probably heard this description before, but Cloudstreak was a light gray she-cat, a medicine cat, who had thousands of white flecks, almost as numerous as the stars in the sky. Her eyes were the bluest eyes I've ever seen."

Skykit looked at the wistful expression Snowcloud's countenance held. "Cats talk so much about Cloudstreak," she purred softly. "She must have been great."

Now Snowcloud looked down at Skykit. "You know how Goldenheart is a great member of the resistance, one of the coordinators of the whole thing?"

"Yes, she was the first resistance cat I met," purred Skykit.

"Well," continued Snowcloud. "Goldenheart is probably the greatest resistance cat here; she's led us through thick and thin. You, Skykit are destined to be greater than her. Just as great, or greater than, Cloudstreak."

Confused, Skykit asked, "But I thought you said Goldenheart was the greatest cat here."

Snowcloud mrrowed softly. "She is. But there is a greatness that is beyond great, something _majestic_. Goldenheart is the greatest of the great, but Cloudstreak was majestic. There are only two cats that have ever been thought of as majestic. Cloudstreak and Frostwing, the best of friends, those two were. It is said that many cats are regal, noble cats. Already, you are one of these cats Skykit, something it takes others their entire lives to achieve. Then there is greatness, and several cats are great, like some consider cats like Amberpaw and Snowpaw great. After that is true greatness. True greatness cannot be learned, you have to be born truly great. There are a very solemn few cats that are truly great. At one time, there are maybe three in the world. But those who are majestic...in all of time, only two cats so far have been considered majestic. And they are Cloudstreak and Frostwing."

Now Skykit was starting to understand. But... "Who was Frostwing?"

Snowcloud looked down. "Frostwing was a traveler. Probably the best. Cloudstreak was a medicine cat, but a very brave one who stuck by every cat and demanded justice. Frostwing was the best of the best of the travelers, an example for all of us to live by. Frostwing had three kits, two were starving so she took them to find food...but tragedy struck and none of them came back. Her other kit, Sleekpaw, became Sleekstream, and she mated with Cloudstreak's son, Jayfur, and yes Cloudstreak broke YOUR warrior code but that's not a rule for AirClan's Clans. And the two had four kits together, but somehow the kits disappeared. But Sleekstream was white and silver and Jayfur was a light brown and smoky gray tabby."

An idea was slowly forming in Skykit's mind. She looked NOTHING like either of her parents...though her sisters did. But she and each of her sisters looked something like either Jayfur or Sleekstream...it was possible, she supposed. Maybe...just maybe...well, she could ask AirClan.

"Alright, Owlkit, go ahead. Go up there and step into the Mist Pool. Walk until the water is over your head. Don't worry, I've done this and it's safe."

Owlkit seemed a little reluctant, but she padded up to the edge of the water. She looked back at Skykit and her friends quickly. "Good luck!" Skykit mouthed.

"Thanks," mouthed Owlkit, and the she-cat slowly moved forwards. Soon she was entirely submerged in water.

"Skykit, are you okay?" asked Thrushkit. "You're not breathing."

Skykit let out her breath. "Sorry, just nervous for Owlkit. I hope she gets lookout." After Skykit finished speaking, the silence returned.

Suddenly, there was a tiny ripple in the water as Owlkit walked out of the pond. But when she stepped upon solid ground, she didn't shake her fur, for it wasn't wet! The whole experience had taken only seconds, but still she should have been wet...perhaps it was the doing of AirClan...

Owlkit looked very happy. "I'm a lookout!" she purred.

Snowcloud also purred softly. "Well, Thrushkit, you're up."

Thrushkit almost ran into the Mist Pool, and this time Skykit was less nervous. The time seemed much shorter until Skykit saw Thrushkit exit the pool. "Hunter!" she meowed, breathless. "I'm a hunter."

But as Sparrowkit stepped in, Skykit felt all her nervousness return. What would she get?!

The time seemed much too short between the time Sparrowkit entered and exited the Mist Pool. "I got hunter too!" the kit exclaimed excitedly, but then her eyes rested on Skykit.

Skykit looked around. All eyes rested on her. "Well," meowed Snowcloud, "let's see what the job will be for the leader of the resistance."

"Yah," purred Owlkit. "Good luck!"

Skykit meowed a thank-you and slowly turned around, her eyes on her paws. She placed one paw forwards, and then the other. Soon she stood at the edge of the Mist Pool. Gingerly, Skykit lifted one paw and placed it into the water. The sensation that shot through her when she touched the pool was a combination of fascination, excitement, mystery, and anxiousness. Slowly, she stalked forwards, until the water lapped at her chest. Then she moved forwards farther. She took a deep breath, and half-ran into the depths of the pool.

Opening her eyes, Skykit saw that in the middle of the pool was a small stone disk. There were marks in the sand ahead of her where all the other kits had sat down, but something pulled her towards the disk. Would she have enough breath? But then Skykit noticed that she was already breathing. With a sigh of relief, she swam towards the disk.

The second her paws came to rest on the stone, Skykit found her self in a different scene entirely. She stood on…well…when she looked down she didn't see anything that she could be standing on, but when she pressed her paw firmly downwards she felt something sturdy. _'The ground is where you want it to be,' _murmured a voice inside Skykit's head. She whirled around. Behind her stood a light gray she-cat with thousands of white flecks and unmistakable blue eyes.

"Cloudstreak!" meowed Skykit.

'_Yes, it's me, and this is Frostwing." _Next to Cloudstreak stood a tortoiseshell she-cat with white wing-shaped spots on each of her shoulders and glinting amber eyes.

"Nice to meet both of you, I've heard much about you," meowed Skykit politely.

'_We heard your thoughts about your lineage,' _came a new voice, obviously the voice of Frostwing. _'You are your parents' daughter. But there are things about your heritage that you do not know. Things that we will tell you. But first, your job.'_

Skykit remembered the three cats she'd seen in the star. "I also have to find and talk to three cats, but I don't know their names," she told the two regal-looking she-cats.

'_I see,' _came Cloudstreak's voice. _'Well, do you know what they look like?"_

Skykit nodded. "They sent me a vision."

'_Alright, concentrate on the appearance of these three cats that you must see," _said Frostwing's voice. The random thought popped into Skykit's head that when she heard the voices of these cats, neither of their lips moved. She wondered if she could communicate through thought like they were.

'_Okay,' _she thought to the two she-cats labeled majestic in front of her. She felt a sense of accomplishment, in being able to communicate in this way. Then she focused her mind on the images she'd seen. The white and ginger queen with one white kit and one ginger kit…

'_They are Flyingcloud and her kits, Emberkit and Breezekit,' _meowed the voice of Cloudstreak. _'She told me she might try to speak to you. We will direct you to her once we are finished with you.'_

Skykit nodded her head, and Frostwing spoke…well, sort of spoke. '_Your job is that of a traveler. Though all in the resistance want to protect you, the dangers braved by most cats must seem like nothing to you if you are to lead knowledgably. Also, you were born to be a traveler…sort of.'_

Skykit purred happily. She'd wanted to be a traveler. She knew it must sound crazy, but if everyone was so scared of it…she loved a challenge. But what did they mean 'sort of born for it'?

'_Now what we wanted to say to you about your lineage…' _Frostwing was speaking again. _'Do you remember the story told to you about us by Snowcloud?"_

'_Yes.'_

'_The generation of Cloudstreak and I was about two years ago. Our kits, Sleekstream and Jayfur, reside with us now,' _murmured Frostwing's voice again. Then Cloudstreak began to speak.

'_When my son Jayfur mated with Sleekstream, their four kits were carried off by two hawks. Because Frostwing and I already resided here, we could see what happened when the five kits were set down at Four Trees, in the territory of the other four Clans. The kits' names were Riverkit, Hollykit, Birdkit, and Dawnkit.'_

To Skykit, the names were all too familiar. She recognized them as respectable Clan cats…well, now they were warriors, and Birdkit, or Birdflight, was a medicine cat.

Cloudstreak continued. _'A ThunderClan patrol found the kits on the night of the Gathering, when they had been dropped off. The Gathering began, and it was decided that one kit would go to each Clan. Each kit was new-born, too young to remember its heritage. So they became Rivertail of RiverClan, Hollytail of ShadowClan, Birdflight of WindClan, and Dawnpoppy of ThunderClan.'_

Skykit gasped. '_My mother was your grand-daughter. So I'm your great-grand-daughter?'_

Cloudstreak and Frostwing nodded.

'_Your father is a regular Clan cat. But you have…shall we say "majestic" blood running through your veins.'_

Skykit was too shocked to realize who said the last thing and it didn't matter. She, Skykit, was related to the two greatest cats in…forever, really. Cloudstreak and Frostwing. Wow.

'_You'd better get a move on,' _purred the voice of Frostwing.

Skykit just stood numbly for a few seconds, then remembered what she was to do. _'OH! Sorry, I'm just surprised. But why do we have to go quickly?'_

Cloudstreak's blue eyes glinted laughingly. _'You're underwater, even though it's magical AirClan water it's still water. So you need to hurry or your friends will probably be very, very, very worried.'_

Skykit mrrowed laughingly. _'Alright, let's go!'_

For a few minutes, Skykit just followed the two she-cats. Soon, they arrived in what looked to be a small forest…with ground and everything. Resisting the urge to lick the ground joyously, Skykit padded forwards. Soon they reached a small cave. Inside were the cats from Skykit's vision.

'_Here's Skykit,' _meowed Cloudstreak's voice. '_You wanted to see her, yes?'_

The cat Skykit presumed to be Flyingcloud bobbed her head up and down as Cloudstreak and Frostwing left. "Thanks for bringing her." Flyingcloud just spoke, and her lips moved too.

"Hmm…' purred Skykit softly.

"What was that?" asked Flyingcloud.

"Oh, I'm just surprised you're actually literally talking," replied Skykit.

Flyingcloud seemed amused. "I consider not talking something only those that think they are dead do. I know my physical form is dead, but I'm not. So I talk."

"I see…" purred Skykit, though she really didn't see at all. "Well, what was it you and your kits wanted to tell me?"

"We wanted to talk to you about Shadedpaw."

Skykit froze. "Why Shadedpaw?"

"First of all, because I'm his mother." Flyingcloud licked her paw and drew it over her ears casually. "Second, because the resistance is making a big mistake about him."

Skykit just stood there, stunned once more. "Are you okay?" asked Flyingcloud.

"Yep, because I just LOVE it when cats all gang up and decide to tell me stuff for the first time that is really surprising in the same ten minutes," meowed Skykit sarcastically.

Amusement showed in Flyingcloud's gaze, but it was quickly replaced by sadness. "Well, here's something even more important. You, of all cats, MUST know that Shadedpaw isn't evil, because you stuck up for him, right?"

Skykit thought for a moment. "Well, according to the resistance, he's evil because of who his father is. So, though they wouldn't agree, in my eyes it seems like his only crime was being born to an evil lunatic."

Flyingcloud sighed. "I remember telling several of my friends in the resistance that I wanted to give Shadowheart another chance. They tried to talk me out of it but I was too mouse-brained to listen. So when I bore his kits, two were born evil, Webpaw, and a kit named Taintedkit. The others were good – Emberkit, Breezekit, and Shadedpaw. But I thought they were all good. So I offered to take them to the Mist Pool one day, but I only made this offer to the 'good' kits, because Webpaw and Taintedkit were sick. So I took Emberkit, Breezekit, and Shadedpaw to the Mist Pool. Emberkit and Breezekit learned that they were to be messengers. Shadedkit stepped in for about two seconds, but then there was a yowl. Taintedkit hadn't been sick and had followed us. He said that Shadowheart was the next controller and ran off. Naturally, I was shocked, but I and my three kits ran off to stop Taintedkit from telling Shadowheart. But by the time we got there it was too late.

"When I reached his den, Shadowheart forced all my kits in and blocked the exit. He demanded to know who had received their job assignments. In a panic, I told him that Emberkit and Breezekit had. Then he turned to Shadedkit and ordered my son to go to him, or he would kill me. So Shadedkit went. Shadowheart glared at him. But he found out nothing. Then he ordered Webkit and Taintedkit to hold Shadedkit down. You have to understand that since they were all kits, Shadedkit couldn't fight both of them off. Things might have been different if he did. Because Shadowheart whirled around and lunged for me and my two little daughters and…I'm very glad Shadedkit couldn't see what happened next. But I'll just say that my mate sent me and my kits to AirClan."

Skykit almost keeled over from shock. All this information…and so HORRIFYING! How could even Shadowheart do something this horrible? But Flyingcloud wasn't done.

"After the deed was done, Shadowheart ordered his evil kits to get off Shadedkit. Webkit did, but Taintedkit didn't. When Shadedkit saw what happened, he pretty much exploded, and flung Taintedkit across the den and into the wall. The blow killed him.

"Shadedkit was shocked and expected Shadowheart to kill him too, but far from being angry, Shadowheart took it as a sign that Shadedkit would be evil and ruthless like him. Soon afterwards, Shadedkit and Webkit became apprentices. And half a moon later, you came.

"I know all this because I saw it in the Vision Pool, where AirClan cats can see things. But here's something else: a horrible evil is arising, worse than anything most cats could even dream of. You HAVE to trust Shadedpaw and get his help, or the resistance will be wiped out."

Skykit stood silently for a minute, taking it all in. But then she looked up bravely. "I'll do it," she told Flyingcloud.

Admiration flickered in the AirClan queen's eyes. "You are every bit as promising as I thought you'd be. Good luck. You'll wake up in the water."

Suddenly, the scene faded away. Opening her eyes, Skykit found herself underwater again. Quickly, she swam to where she had left her BirdClan friends.

"You were there so long!" mused Owlkit.

"Yes, I know," murmured Skykit, then meowed, "I'm a traveler." There were gasps. "But there's more that I can't tell you now. Don't worry…it's just something I have to do." Skykit worked hard to keep her voice calm. Inside, she was trying not to panic. Could she possibly do this?

**A/N: How do you like it? Oh, I added several new pages to my site. And the first three reviewers can ask me two questions, any questions, about this story, and I will guarantee an answer to one of them (just in case one gives away too much, I'll answer the other.) I'll update in two days if I get 245 reviews, R&R!**


	21. Reedwhistle

**A/N: REALLY sry for the long wait, but long chapters are harder to do than I thought...I broke this one up into a couple different pieces and it isn't nearly as long as usual…sry about that but REVIEW anyway plz. **

---Shadedpaw's POV---

Shadedpaw paced back and forth, his jet-black fur shimmering in the bit of light that entered the den. He HAD to do something. The resistance needed help desperately, and he was one of the only ones who could do it. If they wouldn't trust him, though..."Strikepaw," Shadedpaw meowed, turning to his friend, "How does the resistance figure out who they can trust and who they can't?"

Strikepaw looked up from a mouse he'd been chewing on. "Well, usually it's from how the kit acts and whether or not its parents agree. For example...with...well there's my mentor Shadowstripe for instance. His parents were Grassfeather of SquirrelClan and Wolftooth of WolfClan. Both were in the resistance. Both wanted their children to be in the resistance too. So it depended on how Shadowstripe and his brother Crookedstump acted. See, the way they tell isn't by who acts nice, it's by who acts evil, or who Shadowheart would call. So Crookedstump was sly and cunning but really mean, to Shadowstripe especially, but Shadowstripe fought back gallantly but not meanly. So Shadowstripe was invited to be part of the resistance. And because he seemed nice, Shadowheart didn't call on him to become an accomplice, but rather let him take no sides, because Shadowheart didn't know that Shadowstripe was part of the resistance. Is this making sense?"

Shadedpaw nodded. "But have there ever been cases when there was one parent that was an accomplice and one that was in the resistance?"

Strikepaw looked at his paws. "Well...no."

"Or any cat born to two evil cats that wasn't evil him or herself?"

"No..."

Shadedpaw sighed. "Why? Was it because no one trusted them? 

Strikepaw studied his paws even more closely. "No...it was because they were all evil." The blackish-gray tom looked up, his pale yellow eyes glinting. "There are actually two reasons they don't trust you. First, of course is heritage...and second..."

"What? What's second?" prodded Shadedpaw. The walls of the cave seemed especially confining this morning. There was only one way out of the apprentices' den, through a small opening near the front. It was a dark and gloomy place, where Shadedpaw hated to be, because it reminded him of..well, his life.

"History is second. There have been cats born to evil parents who the resistance trusted, but they were betrayed. There have also been cats born to one evil parent and one good parent. But these betrayed the resistance as well. Every time. So finally, I guess the resistance got tired of it. They just decided only to trust cats if they had parents in the resistance and acted gallantly from the minute they were born."

Shadedpaw sighed. "So my chances of them trusting me are pretty slim, huh?"

"Well, ur...I trust you."

Suddenly, there was a noise. Another apprentice slipped into the den. Shadedpaw inhaled quickly. _Darkpaw! _

"Greetings Darkpaw," meowed Shadedpaw, hoping the evil apprentice hadn't overheard his conversation with Spikepaw...that would be REALLY bad.

"Greetings Shadedpaw, greetings Spikepaw," hissed Darkpaw, his voice oily and slick. The tom inhaled, his jaws wide open. "Why is it that I smell blood?"

"Oh, I cut my leg while hunting, a pretty nasty cut I'd say. Lousy bramble bushes," Shadedpaw lied.

"I see," replied Darkpaw. Shadedpaw knew anyone on Shadowheart's sided was sure to be incredibly gullible as long as the story made SOME type of sense, whereas some members of the resistance (and Shadedpaw) could tell whether you were going to lie or not before you had even opened your mouth to speak.

"Hey," meowed Darkpaw, "there's talk that the resistance went out tonight to that one pool place. Shadowheart, Webpaw, Addestrike and I are going to spy at the boulder where we scented a bunch of kits." 

_That's the way they're coming back! _thought Shadedpaw, but he kept calm. Panic never helped anyone. "Really? How interesting."

"Yah isn't it. Well gotta go." Darkpaw rushed off.

Spikepaw looked at Shadedpaw. "How come they couldn't tell WHAT kits there were and how many there were?"

Shadedpaw smirked. "Shadowheart and his accomplices are all big, swift, and powerful, but they're careless, have bad hearing, are noisy, and couldn't tell their own mother's scent from the scent of a kittypet if the scent had been placed more than two days ago."

Spikepaw stifled a laugh. "That'll be good for the resistance to know." But then the apprentice grew sober. "What'll we do, that's the way the resistance is coming back!"

"I've been thinking about that, and I think I have an idea."

---Icestream's POV---

Icestream slipped silently through the forest. She was going to meet the resistance cats on their way back from the Mist Pool. There was information they needed to know, for if Icestream remembered correctly, the Clans would be splitting up a day after tomorrow. There wasn't much time...

Then, the silver warrior stopped short. She opened her jaws and breathed in deeply. She could smell something out of the ordinary, but she just couldn't place it. Cautiously, she sniffed again and found the small stream that trickled nearby. Without another thought, she plunged through it and forced herself to pull her head underneath the water. In less than a minute later, she exited the stream, soaking wet. If the smell she couldn't quite make out was that of a cat, it wouldn't be able to recognize her scent.

With a sigh, Icestream padded on. She knew that there was way too much to do if they were going to stand any chance at winning this war. First Skykit had to become an apprentice, even though she wasn't quite six moons yet, then she had to begin her training. All the while, Skykit would have to be leading the resistance and setting up plans. And Icestream had to take some travelers to the Bone River. She shuddered. She still didn't understand the goings on of the Bone River, but then again, no cat did. She remembered her own trips to the river. She'd gone twice, once when she'd been just an apprentice (going there was the initiation for travelers), but the only thing she'd really seen then was the river, none of the animals were in sight. The other time...she'd gone with Frostwing, Eagleheart, Goldenheart, Feathercloud, and two other travelers, Harefoot and Musicsong, both of which Shadowheart had...well...now both were in AirClan. _May they rest in peace_, Icestream thought to herself. But when she'd gone...she'd actually SEEN Frostwing disappear with her own two eyes. Frostwing had kitted a few moons before and had been wounded so she couldn't feed her kits. Other she-cats were forbidden to suckle them. One of the kits, Sleek-kit, was doing just fine on regular food, and had been made an apprentice once she was six moons. Icestream herself was younger than Sleekpaw, so everything was working out like it was supposed to - but the others, Kestrelkit and Wetkit, had gotten sick and couldn't be made apprentices. They stayed sick for moons and were soon 9-moon-old-kits. So Frostwing had taken them to the Bone River in hopes that she could get them to eat the extremely rich and nourishing animals who lived there...

_"Icepaw, hurry up," purred Frostwing, setting her kits down for half a second to call her apprentice. Icepaw scurried after her mentor. _

_"Are you sure I can't help you carry them?" asked Icepaw generously, though both kits were older than her, both were always in and out of conciousness because of their sickness. Frostwing nodded and struggled on. _

_Icepaw sighed, but then got excited. She scented one of those huge mice that lived by the Bone River. Excitedly, she stalked off, her paws making almost no noise on the grassy tundra. There, she saw it! The land was just open grass for miles around the Bone River, and it was easy to see. Making sure the mouse, which was almost her size, couldn't see her, she got as close as possible...and leapt! With a quick, expertly placed bite, she took the mouse's life. Good thing she'd had the element of surprise on her side. She sank her teeth into the mouse's fur and started to drag it back to Frostwing, but then she stopped short. A few feet ahead of her sat a giant fox that looked angry. _

_"That was my mouse," the fox growled. _

_"Um…you can have it," stuttered Icepaw, pushing the mouse towards the fox carefully, then sprinting away. She was aware that she was running away from Frostwing, but changing her direction and facing the fox would be hopeless. And then she heard a voice… _

Icepaw! _The voice seemed like some kind of high-pitched whispery whistle. _Icepaw, _it said, _do not be afraid, I am the Reedwhistle. Turn around and go back to Frostwing. Quickly!

_Icepaw didn't dare resist the...whistle thing. She turned around and scampered back to where she'd seen the fox. It was gone now, as was any trace of it or the mouse. Even the scent was gone. _How strange…_thought Icepaw, knowing that scents couldn't disappear THAT quickly. But a screech from the riverside sent her pelting across the grassy tundra as fast as her legs could carry her. She was only a few foxlengths from the Bone River when she stopped short. One of Frostwing's kits had one paw caught in the river, and the waters seemed to be dragging the kit into it. "HELP!!!" it screeched, panicking completely. _

_"Hold on!" shouted Icepaw, looking around frantically for Frostwing. She spotted her mentor on a rock near the river, her teeth in the other kit's scruff. This kit had been sucked in even farther than the first one, and only its head was above water. Knowing that there was little time to spare, Icepaw rushed towards the first kit she'd seen…or tried to. For she found that she was no longer able to move, no matter how hard she tried. The river itself had frozen her, for the water was perfectly clear, but there was no river bottom to be seen. And a strange blue and green light danced in a circle, rising up from the river, transfixing Icepaw in its glow. _

_Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone, and Icepaw was able to run towards the riverbank. But just as she got near it, there was a strange noise, and the kit was sucked into the river. Icepaw stopped short at the place the kit had been. There were claw marks on the ground where it had tried to get away from the river, but these claw marks were fading quickly, and then they were gone. Frostwing's scream broke Icepaw away from her investigation and she looked up just in time to see her mentor tumble into the water after her kit. But the second the queen fell into the water, all traces of her struggle were gone. Looking at the water, Icepaw came to the startling realization that Frostwing and her kits were no where to be seen, as if the clear water had swallowed them up completely. _

Icestream shuddered violently. She'd always remember that moment when she saw Frostwing, Kestrelkit, and Wetkit disappear forever.

---In AirClan---

Frostwing watched her former apprentice, Icestream, as she walked along, and thought about what had happened that fateful day. She mrrowed laughingly when she noticed Icestream's thoughts about the Reedwhistle. Frostwing knew what it was, but had never gotten the chance to reveal her knowledge, which wasn't good because she was the only one who knew what it was. But the rest of what had happened that day was horrible… Kestrelkit had been playing on a large rock when she fell, and Frostwing had caught her…but the water was dragging the kit down. Wetkit ran to see what was going on and got caught in the river as well. Icestream, then Icepaw, had tried desperately to rescue them, but there was nothing she could do. And then, Wetkit had disappeared in the water. While Icestream was transfixed by the weird lights, the water had formed some kind of vine and wrapped around Frostwing's paw, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the water. She had known that the Bone River was dangerous, but she thought that it just sent cats that fell into it straight to AirClan, because that's what all the resistance medicine cats thought. She was soon to find out that she was wrong.

As soon as Frostwing was sucked into the water, she found herself standing, with her kits, in front of a large cave, filled with glowing yellow lights in the shape of cats. The yellow cats' fangs were long and fierce looking, and Frostwing could tell the cats were evil – but behind them was a small circle of light, glowing blue like the sky. Too scared to think at the time, Frostwing had turned around to find a glowing staircase leading up to what must have been AirClan. Rather than fight the evil yellow _monsters_ – they should not be called cats – Frostwing dashed towards the stairs, her kits close at her heels. Had she been alone, she would have risked her life to see what lay within the Sky Circle, as she'd decided to call it, but she couldn't risk her kits' lives. And when she reached the top of the staircase, it disappeared. She had chosen to take her kits to AirClan, there really was no other choice for her. But she knew what only one other cat knew. Skykit would have to conquer the Bone River to save the Clans.

**A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait and the not-as-long-as-usual chapter, the next will be longer. Anyway, I added several new pages to my site, PLEASE go there, and REVIEW!!!! I will not update until I have 261 reviews. Weird number, I know, but 261 is the goal. Oh, I'm taking a poll, which would you rather: **

**--Medium sized chapters and updates every 1 or 2 days— **

**--Long chapters and updates every 3 to 5 days— **

**R&R R&R R&R and don't forget to vote. **

**-Aviation-Nyra's Revenge-**


	22. Two Sets of Tunnels

**A/N: SO SO SO sorry I haven't updated! I know it's been months…please don't abandon this story, I have a whole new season planned. Also, I haven't been on FanFiction in like forever, please forgive me for not R&Ring your stories, I certainly haven't lost interest. If you could PM me and tell me how many chapters you've written in my absence, I'll get to work on catching up. **

**Here's what I'm planning: this book doesn't have too many chapters left. Yes, I know, the climax hasn't even really begun yet. Well it kind of has…but don't worry, I'm hoping you'll all like how it ends. **

**I plan to update Fridays up until the week of Christmas - that means the last chapter goes up on December 21st. Christmas week, I'll be on vacation, where I'll polish the next season. On the first Friday in January, I'll be posting the first two chapters of Shadows of the Night. **

**Oh yah-I'll also have a chapter on holidays. So on Halloween and Thanksgiving, there'll be an extra-special chapter. **

**Please say so if you have any issues with this system. **

**Again, terribly sorry for the long wait. **

**And a word about this chapter…it's one of the key chapters in this story, though also kinda creepy. Enjoy! And please R&R. **

_Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story..._

...The yellow cats' fangs were long and fierce looking, and Frostwing could tell the cats were evil – but behind them was a small circle of light, glowing blue like the sky...

**And now the next chapter in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story...**

**Two Sets of Tunnels**

---Skykit's POV---

_Skykit followed the other resistance cats, her_ mind whirring busily. Her sisters had been horrified when they found out she was to be a traveler, and she hadn't been able to reassure them. Now she hung back, trailing nearly ten foxlengths behind the others. Then she detected a small noise, nothing much, but it was some large animal. Skykit opened her jaws and inhaled deeply. All she smelled was wet cat. But then she heard her name.

"Skykit!" a voice whispered urgently. "Over here!"

Skykit splipped slowly away from the resistance and under a brush. Then she gasped. _Shadedpaw!_ "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I have bad news, but you have to trust me."

Skykit studied the way Shadedpaw was standing, the way his ears were pricked, and the tone of his voice. He wasn't about to lie anytime soon, she concluded. "Alright but speak quickly, it won't take long before they notice I'm gone."

For a second Shadedpaw looked surprised that she'd agreed to talk to him, but quickly returned to business. "Shadowheart, Adderstrike, Darkpaw, and Webpaw are waiting by that boulder where Webpaw saw you. They smelled a large group of kits, but that's all they could detect."

Skykit said nothing, but her eyes widened. The resistance was headed to the boulder now! But why couldn't Shadowheart's cronies tell exactly which cats had been at the boulder? Any kit would be able to at least distinguish how many cats there had been, if not who the cats were.

"But I have an idea," Shadedpaw continued. "My mo…a cat once told me that secret tunnels ran underground. Shadowheart doesn't know about them, and the cat I heard it from was one of the last cats who knew how to navigate them."

Skykit gasped, showing just how surprised she was. She tried to scold herself inwardly, for good resistance members never revealed shock, but this was too amazing. Tunnels Shadowheart had never heard of? But wait… "Navigate them?" _Certainly they can't be that big,_ thought Skykit. "What do the tunnels run under? Where do they lead?"

Shadedpaw sighed. "They're very big, and long, though once you know them well it's easy to get around them. There's a tunnel leading to pretty much anywhere. The entrances and exits are well hidden. We'd…well…I could take you through them, but we'd have to go quickly."

Skykit continued to study Shadedpaw's posture. He was unsure. Of what, Skykit couldn't pinpoint. Unsure that he knew the way through the tunnels? Or unsure that she'd allow him to show them? Just then, Skykit abruptly remembered that she'd forgotten to be afraid of Shadedpaw. Something compelled her to trust him. Remembering Flyingcloud, Shadedpaw's AirClan mother, she decided that it was worth the chance of getting lost rather than risk having the future of the resistance entirely made known to Shadowheart…if he didn't already know.

As if he could sense her thoughts, Shadedpaw began to speak quickly. "Shadowheart's cats are strong, fast, and can't think for themselves. Shadowheart does that for them, and since his cats -his eyes and ears- aren't the smartest cats in the world, Shadowheart knows very little about the resistance."

The sounds of the resistance patrol were getting farther and farther away. "Are you sure it's the only way to get back without being seen?" Skykit asked quickly.

"Yes."

With a sigh, the young she-cat realized just how hard it would be to convince the resistance to let Shadedpaw lead them through a long maze of dark tunnels. _Wait!_ thought Skykit, _maybe I don't have to._ For it was only the older cats…well the older cats and some of the kits…who thought Shadedpaw was evil. The other kits were skeptical. _And the older cats could pass for a hunting patrol…_

"Come on, we have to catch up with them!" Skykit meowed, turning quickly and pelting after the resistance patrol.

---Goldenheart's POV---

_Goldenheart sat in a large cave, its floor dirty with mud…but the mud had traces of red in it. Realizing what this must have meant, the golden medicine cat shuddered. But a look at the roof confirmed that there was no hole in the ceiling, and no light came from the dark mouth of a tunnel on one side. So how could she notice the different colors of the mud?_

_Turning her eyes to the walls of the cave, Goldenheart began to remember stories her mentor had told her…stories of evil cats who possessed ygrkipomagen. They had special caves where they took their next victims. Some cats were made into scorchers in caves like this, others were…scorched. The walls in this time of cave were supposed to give off an eerie light, one that seemed to signify that something lay behind it. The light inside this cave was especially creepy, for it was a sickening green color that seemed to throb. The setting itself made a cat feel sick._

_Goldenheart felt her fur begin to rise as she realized that something was watching her. Whirling around, she heard the clicking noise of approaching pawsteps -- pawsteps from the shadows of the dark tunnel. Then, two enormous eyes became visible. They were a deep black with a frighteningly white background. The pupils themselves, however, were a shade of sickly green that seemed to match the walls in color. The eyes seemed to throb eerily as well. A large yellow paw moved forward, and from the darkness emerged the body of an enormous yellow cat - at least twice the size of a standing Twoleg. Its fangs were huge and pure white. They looked sharp enough to slice a hair. Then, more identical pairs of eyes began to appear, and a barely visible blue glow from in back of the cats helped Goldenheart piece together the clues, though she still wasn't sure where she was. But this place had something to do with the Bone River. She couldn't remember what, but this confirmed that Shadowheart controlled the evil forces within it. What were they possibly guarding?_

_A snarl from the evil yellow monster cats drew her gaze back towards them. There were ten in all…and behind them stood a pure black tomcat, his eyes throbbing as well…but instead of green, Shadowheart's eyes were a horrifying yellow. The murderous tom slowly raised one paw, unsheathed his claws, and scraped them along one wall of the cave. The screech of claws on rock seemed to be a signal to the huge yellow cats, who slowly began to advance towards Goldenheart…_

Goldenheart jumped up with a start. Looking around, she saw the familiar walls of her den. Breathing in, she could scent burdock root, marigold, catmint, and the reassuring scents of many other herbs. Sitting up, she tried to ponder what the vision might mean. Suddenly, she remembered what Frostwing of AirClan had told her many, many moons ago…Goldenheart gasped, realizing exactly what was going on.

* * *

**A/N: So? How did you like it? R&R, and don't forget to fill me in on the stories I need to catch up on, that is if you wouldn't mind. Oh, also check out my homepage. I added some interesting things onto it. R&R!**

Next chapter: The Left Tunnel


	23. The Left Tunnel

**A/N: Yay! Second week! Oh, if you want a chance to win spoilers and sneak peeks, check out my homepage and go to the contests page (coming soon). This is a little early to post, but I'll be eating dinner at five 'o clock.**

_Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story…_

"But I have an idea," Shadedpaw continued. "My mo…a cat once told me that secret tunnels ran underground. Shadowheart doesn't know about them, and the cat I heard it from was one of the last cats who knew how to navigate them."

**Now, the next chapter in this saga:**

* * *

_Skykit's eyes scanned the large group of_ cats restlessly. She could see two of the grown cats in front, though the rest were in back. Her plan was simple - a tiny white lie, then she'd send the grown cats off to hunt. She'd explain to the other kits what was happening - _well, as much as they really need to know,_ she thought, glancing at Shadedpaw. 

The dark tom's eyes still scanned the group of cats in front of them, unaware of Skykit's intense gaze. To her, he looked less and less like Shadowheart every minute. Shadowheart's jaw was stiff and hard at all times, while Shadedpaw's curved nicely. Shadowheart's shoulders were wiry, but not broad and muscular like Shadedpaw's. Shadowheart's gaze was tauntingly evil, while Shadedpaw's gaze was filled with quiet determination. Skykit wondered how she could have ever thought them to be almost identical. Even there pelts were different! Shadowheart's fur was the same color as Shadedpaw's, but the older tom's pelt was ragged and rough, while Shadedpaw's fur was smooth and shiny.

Suddenly, Leafwing paused to sniff the air. Skykit stepped forward abruptly, and the entire resistance patrol turned to look at her. "I've just detected Shadowheart and a patrol of his cats at the boulder that we must pass to get back to camp," she lied, keeping her face calm, though inside she desperately hoped that the older cats didn't ask too many questions.

Some of the kits began to yowl in panic, and all of the grown cats' eyes widened. They hadn't been expecting this. _Good,_ thought Skykit. They'd probably ask fewer questions in a dazzled state.

"Wait! Don't panic! I have a plan!" Skykit continued, hardly able to stop herself from purring with satisfaction as the adults turned to her skeptically.

"I think I know of another way to get in to camp, though it will take longer. I can lead the other kits there. But to distract Shadowheart's patrol, I say that the full-grown cats put together a 'hunting patrol'. They should easily be able to get into camp without objections."

Several of the cats began to nod slowly, understanding. But Leafwing sensed something was amiss. "How will you find it yourself?"

Skykit had expected some cat to say this. She took a deep breath, realizing that this was quite a risk, then proceeded: "I thought Rainstorm and Snowcloud could come with, and I could show them, too." Just then, Skykit noticed how mysterious she sounded. What if they asked where it was? What if they asked how she'd found out about it. She turned to Rainstorm and pleaded with her eyes.

Leafwing's mouth opened again, as if to ask another question, but Rainstorm piped up. "I'd love to go see this new way to get into camp. It'd be helpful in the future, if it works."

Taking her cue from Rainstorm, Snowcloud spoke quickly. "But on the way I'll expect to hear of how you found it when you were supposed to be attending other duties," the she-cat scolded, very convincingly.

Skykit pretended to be hurt at the scolding, but the extra effect wasn't necessary. Roseheart was already arguing with two of the other cats about who got to lead the hunting patrol and what they should say to Shadowheart.

Soon, everything was in place. As soon as the hunting patrol was out of earshot, Skykit turned to her audience. "I know we are not yet experienced, but I have found someone with knowledge that will help us." The cats looked at her eagerly, urging her on. "First off, who here believes that Webpaw is evil?" Every cat waved his tail. "Who believes Shadedpaw is evil?" Though she'd expected at least one or two cats to believe that the controller's son was evil, the kits were not like the older, more suspicious generations. Not one cat waved its tail, even though several cats seemed a bit uncertain.

"Good," Skykit continued, "for Shadedpaw knows of a secret underground series of tunnels that neither the controller and his cronies nor anyone else in the resistance knows about." Snowcloud's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, as if she'd heard of these secret tunnels before. "He can show us the way through them, and we must learn what each leads to. As soon as we begin to master the tunnels, we can show them to the rest of the resistance. Maybe we'll even get to teach our mentors!" This statement and the eager glances of the kits betrayed the interest they tried to hide. Satisfied on that count, Skykit turned to Rainstorm and Snowcloud. The two cats were whispering to one another rapidly, as if trying to decide something. Finally, the two warriors faced Skykit.

The pleasant expressions on their faces nevertheless promised many questions on the way to the tunnels. Rainstorm spoke softly, so many of the kits became quiet in order to here her. "We'll go and see these tunnels. I'm sure that they will help us in some way."

Skykit lightly waved her tail back and forth, and then dropped it quickly to signal Shadedpaw. The tom began to walk through the bushes noisily, so as not to frighten the other kits. "Alright, if we're heading to the tunnels, you all need to stay as quiet as you can."

Several kits sighed; they'd had enough being quiet for the day. A sudden spark of information prompted Skykit to speak. "Whoever is the quietest gets first choice of the fresh prey and gets to choose what we play tomorrow." Hopefully, the kits would find the prospect of getting the first piece of prey and deciding what to do interesting.

Pleased purrs came from the group of kits, but that quickly changed to silence when Shadedpaw flicked his ears. "Inspired," he purred to Skykit before he continued. "The tunnels are dark, so you have to follow carefully so you don't get lost. I want you all to get in groups of five or six, and look out for your group members to make sure no one wanders off."

As the kits began to group together with their friends, Skykit felt the immediate excitement of the danger begin to pass. Now she felt a bit scared. Suppose Shadedpaw was not really on their side? No, because why would Flyingcloud lie? And if Rainstorm believed that Shadedpaw wasn't evil…well Rainstorm was very smart. But what if Shadowheart somehow DID know about the tunnels and had sent cats to block them? What if she was sending these cats into huge danger?

As if sensing her thoughts, Rainstorm padded up to her. "Good thinking," she rasped. "Even if Shadowheart knew about the tunnels, he probably wouldn't know that we did, and therefore wouldn't guard them heavily, if at all."

Only slightly reassured, Skykit looked back to the other kits. All were in small groups of five or six, ready to leave. Silverkit, Rabbitkit, and Stormkit stood off to one side, waiting to see if Skykit was going to join them.

"Snowcloud and I will bring up the rear, to make sure no one gets lost," meowed Rainstorm loudly enough for all the young cats to hear.

"Alright," purred Skykit. "Everyone follow Shadedpaw. Remember, quiet."

"Hey Skykit, are you in a group?" asked Stormkit. "Because if you're not, can you come in our group? We only have three cats."

"Of course I'll be in your group," Skykit replied, laughing softly at how hyper Stormkit still sounded. "But we have to travel up front."

"That's OK," meowed Rabbitkit. Stormkit bobbed her head up and down in a ridiculous nod, but Silverkit only murmured a quiet, "Okay."

Soon the cats were off, trudging through the forest in the opposite direction of the big boulder. This seemed odd…shouldn't the tunnels be closer to the camp instead of farther? But soon, the cats arrived at the base of a large tree. Shadedpaw turned towards the group of cats. "Follow me," he instructed, and then leapt towards the trunk. Soon he stood at the place where all the branches met. He gently pulled a layer of moss off of the space to reveal a large hole. "Move carefully," he warned, before starting into the hole.

Little ledges somewhat like stairs curved around the inside of the tree all the way to the ground. Skykit carefully made her way down, looking back up several times at the disappearing light of the moon. _I wonder if there's a way to light these tunnels,_ she thought, but dismissed the thought as silly. Soon Skykit stood on the ground inside the tree. She looked around at the walls of the tree. No one outside would be able to tell that it was hollow.

"This way," Shadedpaw meowed. A hole had been dug slightly past the middle of the inside of the tree. Shadedpaw disappeared inside. Skykit followed with no more than a minute's hesitation, and she heard the rest of the cats following close at her heels.

Inside of the tunnel, which gently sloped down until it was several feet underground, there was only the slightest bit of light every twenty tail-lengths or so, where a tiny hole had been dug to look like the burrow of a mouse or rodent.

After traveling for quite a while, Skykit wondered how long this tunnel was. She'd noticed many, many openings on the sides that lead to different tunnels, which led to other tunnels, but Shadedpaw never led them to one.

Not much later, they came to an abrupt fork in the road. Shadedpaw didn't hesitate, but immediately turned right, onto the better-lit path, yowling back a warning: "Don't go left!" Skykit didn't admit it, but she was glad they hadn't gone left. She was already a bit uneasy with the partially lit tunnels and didn't particularly want to know how the tunnel on the left ended.

There were no more different paths to take, no more openings in the walls that led to other tunnels. Skykit sensed that they were getting close to the end of their journey just before the ground began to slope upward. "The end is up ahead!" she whispered to Rabbitkit, who was behind her. Rabbitkit passed the message to Silverkit, who passed the message to Stormkit, who passed the message to yet another kit. Meanwhile, Shadedpaw was busy moving a pile of brambles that lay outside the opening.

Once Shadedpaw had exited, Skykit was quick about getting out of the tunnels. She didn't like being completely underground without any light, and the tunnel that led to the left at the final fork had seemed filled with despair. Not knowing why she was thinking this, but soon to find out, Skykit was relieved to see the moon again. She noted that it had barely moved at all since the time when they'd entered the tunnel. Looking around, she found that they were right outside the camp entrance.

As soon as all of the kits were out, Rainstorm and Snowcloud pushed the brambles back into place. "Get to bed," they whispered to the kits, watching them scamper off. Stormkit turned around. "Who was quietest?"

After a moment of thinking, Snowcloud mouthed the word "Owlkit". The BirdClan cat let out a squeal of delight, but was immediately silent afterwards.

"Congratulations," yawned Stormkit, padding off to bed.

Truthfully, Skykit was looking forward to joining them. After she made sure that the hunting patrol had made it in safely, she loped off towards her own nest, not noticing the worried expressions on the faces of both Rainstorm and Snowcloud.

---Dapplepaw's POV---

Overworked and tired, Dapplepaw stumbled into the cold nest of the prison den. Crowflight was next to her. There HAD to be a way to escape these walls...

"Are you sure there's no way out?" the apprentice asked for what might have been the tenth time that day.

This time, instead of her usual withering look, Crowflight seemed to ponder Dapplepaw's question. "Actually, there's this tunnel…but it was destroyed long ago."

Dapplepaw's eyes shone with excitement. "So there _is_ a way out?"

Crowflight sighed. "That tunnel hasn't been used for seasons upon seasons. Part of it was destroyed and traveling through it would most likely be just as wise as jumping right into the Bone River."

"But there _might_ be a way out?" Dapplepaw persisted.

"Maybe…" meowed Crowflight, finally deciding to give the apprentice a bit of hope. "But it would be very hard to find."

"I don't care!" Dapplepaw meowed excitedly. "I'll find it!"

In AirClan, Cloudstreak was listening. _It is not for you to find,_ the ancestor thought softly. _It is another cat whose destiny it is to light the Left Tunnel._

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R&R!!!**

Next Chapter: The Separation


	24. The Separation

**A/N: Is this story getting too scary for anybody :) **

**Previously in Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story…**

"_Congratulations," yawned Stormkit, padding off to bed._

_Truthfully, Skykit was looking forward to joining them. After she made sure that the hunting patrol had made it in safely, she loped off towards her own nest, not noticing the worried expressions on the faces of both Rainstorm and Snowcloud._

**And now the next chapter of Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story…**

**The Separation**

Skykit sighed softly, settling into her warm nest. She'd seen enough darkness in the past few days to last her a long time. But she was beginning to see why friends were so important in a treacherous place like this. Skykit sighed, still not sure why she'd trusted Shadedpaw so easily. _But there really wasn't much of a reason to be wary of him,_ she reasoned. He didn't seem to hold grudges against the resistance, though he kind of had a right to. He saved them from being discovered. And when he spoke, he didn't seem to lie. The only reason not to trust him was his heritage. He really was helpful. Hopefully the rest of the resistance would see it that way.

After seeing some of the darkness that Shadowheart had brought upon these cats, Skykit wanted to bring light. But for now… -she yawned- …she needed some sleep.

Only seconds later -- literally -- a cat prodded Skykit with herpaw. "Skykit, wake up!" Rabbitkit rasped.

Skykit hauled herself up and glanced at the moon. It hadn't moved. "Why did you wake me up the _second_ I fell asleep?" she complained.

"Because!" Rabbitkit was panting. "The long Gathering is over! Tomorrow we'll be split up!"

Skyit found herself suddenly awake. "That can't be!!" She hadn't been thinking about what would happen once the Clans split up…communication would be almost impossible! "What will we do?"

Rabbitkit seemed surprised. "You're the one who's not supposed to panic," the she-cat said quietly.

Skykit glanced at her paws. Her sister was right. She tried to let everything sink in. She was leading who knows how many cats, and all of them were counting on her! And as of tomorrow, she'd be almost six moons old…

Her thoughts wandered to what she would have been doing in ThunderClan right now. She'd probably be sleeping in the nursery, next to her mother and sisters. Tomorrow she would have wrestled with her siblings and listened to the elders' stories of the great heroes and heroines of the four Clans. Stories of **(_SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ TNP, THE SIGHT, and FIRESTAR'S QUEST_)** the lost SkyClan and how Firestar had restored them; stories of Bluestar and Whitestorm; Onestar and beautiful Silverstream; Bramblestar, Squirrelflight, Crowfeather, Feathertail, Stormfur, and Tawnystar who had made the long journey to the Sundrown Place; legendary medicine cats like Spottedleaf, Yellowfang, Cinderpelt, and Leafpool; Graystripe, Sandstorm, and Dustpelt; Ravenpaw and Barley; the battle with BloodClan**…(_SPOILER DANGER OVER_)**that generation of cats was full of excitement. Not a single one of those cats would have give up on saving their Clan because they were separated! But none had to start saving cats before they were apprentices, either. She refused to admit, even to herself, that that knawing feeling in her stomach was the horrible fear of all the responsibility that had been thrust onto her shoulders...

Oh, who was she complaining to?! _Stop feeling sorry for yourself!_ Skykit thought angrily. _But what if I lead them to_... with a shudder, Skykit banished the thoughts. She had to find a way for the cats to continue to communicate…the tunnels! There had been multiple openings…maybe one led to a place where cats could meet! She had to find Shadedpaw!

Skykit turned to her sister. "How many cats watch the camp at night?"

Now it was Rabbitkit's turn to glance at her paws. "Well…lots. Lots and lots and lots. At least tonight…Shadowheart's cats are almost everywhere."

Skykit felt her temper rising, something it'd been doing a lot of lately. She barely suppressed an enraged hiss. "What time do we leave tomorrow?" Skykit asked through clenched teeth.

"Right away in the morning."

"Speaking of which," meowed an slick, oily, taunting voice, "you two have to go into your designated Clan area -- right now." Shadowheart padded up to them. _Come one step closer,_ Skykit thought, _and I'll knock that smug grin right off your face._ She knew that those thoughts wouldn't get her far and tried to rid herself of anger --why was she so mad lately?

"In case you didn't know," the controller murmured so that only Skykit and Rabbitkit could hear, "the camp for prey like you is over there." With a flick of his tail, Shadowheart motioned to the she-cat camps.

This time, Skykit wouldn't let Shadowheart anger her. She stared at him…well…sort of forced, but pleasantly, but her gaze was threatening and piercing, filled with quiet disgust. "Thank you," she rasped. "I'll be going then." She deliberately walked straight towards him, forcing the controller to sidestep. Still, she was puzzled that he'd actually moved. After all_, she was barely half his size... _

---Shadedpaw's POV---

Shadedpaw was surprised that Skykit had been so quick to trust him. Then again, she'd been eyeing him carefully, as if sizing him up, when he'd told her about Shadowheart's waiting patrol.

He lay in his Gathering nest, his head resting on his paws, pondering what had happened that night. Suddenly, he remembered the worried expressions on the faces of Snowcloud and Rainstorm. Why had they been so anxious?

A twig cracking in the forest outside brought the apprentice rushing to the mouth of the cave. "Who's there?" he demanded in a whisper, so as to avoid bringing unnecessary attention.

From the bush stepped a dark brown tabby, a kit by size. A second noise behind him and the voice that followed showed that Spikepaw had heard the noise, too. "What is it Sootkit?" asked the gray and black apprentice.

Sootkit looked scared. "Shadowheart just said that the Clans are splitting up tomorrow!"

Spikepaw gasped. "They weren't supposed to split up for another seven sunrises!"

Shadedpaw studied his paws. _It must be because he wasn't able to intercept the kits!_ thought the dark apprentice. _He knows they found another way into camp…maybe he even knows we found the tunnels._ After his mother had told him about the tunnels, he had searched and searched until he was able to find an opening. He hadn't been able to convince Spikepaw to enter the tunnels with him, but his friend knew that Shadedpaw knew where they were. The black apprentice had carefully gone about hiding all of the openings -- except one. The left tunnel at the fork at the end of the first set of tunnels had to have an opening somewhere, but it had a forbidden feel about it and Shadedpaw had never set paw in it. _No,_ Shadedpaw decided, _even if he knew we found the tunnels, he couldn't have found them._

"Are you sure?" Spikepaw asked Sootkit, who nodded soberly.

"He's making us separate right now! Come see!"

That was even worse. Shadedpaw and Spikepaw followed Sootkit on the narrow path (A/n: I added maps to my homepage for this series, check out the Long Gathering Place Map on the Territory Maps page that shows the caves and paths - and the tunnels underneath) that lead to the main clearing. Shadedpaw noticed Shadowheart walking up to where Skykit and Rabbitkit were talking. A few words passed between them, then Skykit walked off coolly, practically running into Shadowheart..._why had he sidestepped? _Even from this far, he was sure she was angry -- but something in Shadowheart's gaze looked very odd. Rabbitkit turned the other way somewhat sadly. Shadowheart, however, turned his gaze to Skykit. Shadedpaw gasped as his father's eyes began to glow yellow and envelope Skykit in a hazy yellowish smoke. _Ygrkipomagen!_ Skykit coughed, but otherwise the smoke didn't seem to be affecting her. "Spikepaw, look!" Shadedpaw motioned with his tail to what was going on.

"What?" Spikepaw squinted, not seeing the yellow haze or the eerie glow of Shadowheart's eyes. "Why is Shadowheart near Skykit?"

"Don't you see the haze?"

Spikepaw gave Shadedpaw a confused look. "I think you're a bit too tired."

Shadedpaw shook his head to clear it and looked back at Shadowheart. The controller's eyes still glowed yellow, and the haze still surrounded Skykit, but it didn't affect her - at all. _Good, _he thought. Now he just needed a way to communicate...

---Skykit's POV---

Skykit had felt a weird feeling after she'd passed Shadowheart, as if smoke was surrounding her, but it passed soon after. She walked towards the part of the camp nearest the entrance, where all the other BirdClan she-cats had gathered.

Skykit watched the albino she-cat Moonspirit whisper something into the ear of the blue-gray BirdClan leader. Nodding quickly, Hawkstar stepped forward, looking quickly to Falconheart. Falconheart scanned the clearing, not noticing that Skykit was doing so as well. The traveler-to-be noticed that all of BirdClan was present -- except for Shrewfur and Webpaw. Also, not a single accomplice was nearby. She saw Falconheart nod to Hawkstar, signaling her to continue.

"Cats of BirdClan," the leader began, "the time has come to name four new apprentices. Owlkit, Sparrowkit, Thrushkit, and Skykit, please come forwards."

Dazed, Skykit padded towards her leader. She hadn't been expecting this in the least -- she wasn't six moons old!

"I know that you are not all the exact right age," Hawkstar continued, "but certain things have been happening lately and we want our cats to be as strong as possible. If this means making a couple of apprentices a bit early, then so be it. Owlkit, from now on you will be known as Owlpaw. Ferntail, you are ready for another apprentice. You will be Owlpaw's mentor.

"Sparrowkit, from now on you will be known as Sparrowpaw. Cottonfur, you are ready for your first apprentice. You will mentor Sparrowpaw.

"Thrushkit, from now on you will be known as Thrushpaw." Hawkstar stopped for a moment. From introductions yesterday, Skykit realized that there was only one warrior hunter in BirdClan - and there were two apprentice hunters. Hawkstar started again, but resumed her speech more carefully, speaking quietly. "Whitebrook and Azureskies, I know that neither of you hunt exclusively, but as messengers, you do hunt quite a bit and you've watched many hunters work. I'd like both of you to train Thrushpaw in the ways of a hunter." The two she-cats nodded solemnly -- this was no joke, and Skykit guessed that at one time there had been enough hunters. One hunter in a large clan was far too little.

Done with having to say words that might tie her to the resistance in the minds of accomplices, Hawkstar spoke boldly once more. "Skykit, from this moment on you will be known as Skypaw. Icestream, you are ready for your first apprentice. You will be Skypaw's mentor." Though pleased with Hawkstar's choice, Skypaw was confused. Shouldn't Eagleheart, the lead traveler, be her mentor? No matter, Icestream went on more missions than Eagleheart, since Eagleheart had to stay back most of the time as a consultant to the other travelers. _But wait - Icestream was in FishClan!_

Hawkstar finished the ceremony quickly. "You five mentors have suffered through many hardships and remained strong. I trust that you will do your best to educate your apprentices in the ways of the warrior code and help to develop each of their special skills to the best of their ability, so that they may one day become honorable warriors of not only their Clan, but of something bigger than all of us."

With this, Hawkstar stepped back. BirdClan began to chant quietly but firmly, as to avoid attracting attention.. "Owlpaw! Sparrowpaw! Thrushpaw! Skypaw! Owlpaw!! Sparrowpaw!! Thrushpaw!! Skypaw!!"

Skypaw remembered hearing apprentice ceremonies in ThunderClan. This one was much the same, but many terms were different. Perhaps this was because of the war mounting between good and evil?

Skypaw hadn't noticed Rainstorm coming up behind her, so she was startled when the messenger spoke. "Are you ready to start leading the resistance?"

A jolt of shock shook Skypaw. _I forgot!_ _I'm supposed to lead once I become an apprentice!_ she thought. _Maybe I'm not ready…_ But inside, Skypaw knew that, even if she was scared to death and NOT ready, there was no putting this off.

* * *

**A/N: Like it? Remember to R&R!!! **

**Anyway, now that the kits have become apprentices, I can post the allegiances, so they will come next. Don't fret, though. Since Halloween is coming up, I'll post the allegiances on Halloween and the next chapter on the Friday after that.**

**Oh yah, notice how I emphasised that it was surprising that Shadowheart had sidestepped to let Skykit pass? Hmm...**

**R&R please!!!**


	25. Allegiances for the Eight Clans

**A/N: Ok, I forgot that I would be at a party Wednesday and busy Thursday, so I'll post the next chapter tomorrow.**

**Allegiances for the Eight Clans(not including AuraClan and AshClan)**

**Tom Clans**

_WolfClan_

Council:

**Cloudstar – **light grey tom with white paws; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Bluepelt – **blue-grey tom; kind but easily angered; member of the resistance; an informer

**Graypelt – **light grey tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

Medicine Cat:

**Cloudfur – **white tom; very efficient in manner and conduct; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Sharpclaw – **light grey tom; excellent fighter; accomplice

**Liontooth – **blue-grey tom; strong and fast; accomplice

**Whitefur – **white tom; sly and quick; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Icicleshard – **light grey tabby tom with long claws and blue eyes; cunning and quick; cold and unattached; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Riverpelt – **blue-grey tom; sneaky and sly; accomplice

**Grayclaw – **light grey tom; excellent hunter; accomplice

Apprentices:

**Snowpaw – **white tom; member of the resistance; CAUGHT, now of AshClan; a hunter

**Ashpaw – **light grey tom; very fast; accomplice

**Bluepaw – **blue-grey tom; good hunter; accomplice

**Icepaw – **white tom; member of the resistance; CAUGHT, now of AshClan; a messenger

Kits:

**Whitekit – **white tom; member of the resistance; will be a messenger

**Littlekit – **small blue-grey tom; member of the resistance; will be an informer

Elders:

**Silentwhisker – **quiet light grey tom; doesn't speak unless absolutely necessary; member of the resistance; was an informer

_FoxClan_

Council:

**Sunstar – **tan tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Gorsepelt – **ginger tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Braveheart – **brown tom; good at fighting; member of the resistance; an informer

Medicine Cat:

**Palefoot – **pale tan tabby tom; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Stormfoot – **brown tom; fast and sly; accomplice

**Cardinalsong – **bright red-orange tom; very loyal and mostly keeps his mouth shut; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Aspenfur – **pale ginger tom; sly and fast; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Eagertail - **ginger and brown tom with white paws; very hyper and very easily excited; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Spiderbelly – **small brown tom with a white chest and a darker underbelly and tail; swift; nervous and twitchy like a spider; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Lightfire – **golden-yellow tom with blue eyes; fierce in battle; cares deeply for his friends but is fairly easygoing otherwise; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Lionwhisker – **ginger tabby tom; good hunter; accomplice

**Fangpelt – **tan tom; hot temper; accomplice

Apprentices:

**Clawpaw – **dark brown tom; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Barkpaw – **nearly black tabby tom; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Badgerpaw – **tan and ginger tom; member of the resistance; a messenger

Kits:

**Brownkit – **brown tabby tom; member of the resistance; will be a traveler

Elders:

NONE

_BadgerClan_

Council:

**Treestar – **golden tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Goldenfoot – **grey tom with golden stripes; member of the resistance; an informer

**Silverstripe – **silver tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

Medicine Cat:

**Whitebelly – **silver tom with a white underbelly; one of the only two medicine cat accomplices

Warriors:

**Wolfheart –** grey tabby tom; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Lionpelt – **golden tom; good at hunting; accomplice

**Littlefoot – **small silver tabby tom; quick and sly; accomplice

**Graystreak – **large grey tabby tom; strong and fast; accomplice

**Cloudfoot – **grey tom with one white paw; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Cougarfur – **golden tom with brownish-tannish and grey splotches; sly and sneaky; cunning and conniving; accomplice

Apprentices:

**Lynxpaw – **grey tabby tom; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Goldpaw – **golden tom; member of the resistance; a lookout

Kits:

**Lionkit – **golden tom; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Stonekit – **silver tom; member of the resistance; will be a messenger

**Longkit – **grey tom with very long ears; member of the resistance; will be a lookout

Elders:

**Boldclaw – **grey tabby tom;

_BearClan_

Council:

**Bearstar – **dark brown tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Grizzlyclaw – **dark brown tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

**Longtooth – **black tabby tom; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; accomplice

Medicine Cat:

**Crookedstump –**black tom with odd dark brown eyes; one of the only two medicine cats to be an accomplice

Warriors:

**Huntingtooth – **dark brown tabby tom; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Shadowstripe – **rough dark grey tom with a stripe of black running down his spine; keen to fighting; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Adderstrike – **swift black tom with a white spot on his forehead; sly and cunning; keen to fighting; fierce and agile; Shadowheart's brother and second-in-command; an accomplice

**Shadefoot – **black tom; fierce hunter; Shadowheart's brother; accomplice

**Smokeheart – **dark brown tabby tom; keen to fighting; accomplice

**Bearclaw – **dark brown tom; close friend of the controller; accomplice

**Shadowheart – **jet black tom; evil and ruthless; descendant of Wretchedstar and Wickedstar; merciless and sinister; _the controller_

**Sootface – **dark brown tom with black stripes on his face; fierce fighter; accomplice

**Stormfeather – **black tabby tom; member of the resistance; good at fighting; a lookout

Apprentices:

**Darkpaw – **tom that is so dark brown he's almost black; when the resistance learns that there is an evil apprentice in BearClan they assume it to be Shadedpaw but it is actually Darkpaw; sly and cunning in a bad way; ruthless; good at fighting but not as good as some members of the resistance; will become the warrior Darkheart near the end of Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story and will appear in the next book (A/N: Yes, there will be a sequel); accomplice

**Shadedpaw – **jet black tom, Shadowheart's son; tough, burly, and hard on the outside but kind and even understanding on the inside; very secretive; sly and cunning in a good way; prejudiced for his heritage; neither an accomplice or a member of the resistance for unknown reasons

**Spikepaw - **gray and black tom with pale yellow eyes and really sharp claws and fangs; keen fighter; trusts Shadedpaw and is secretly one of his friends; kind and with a slow temper but get him fired up and you're in for trouble; member of the resistance; a messenger

Kits:

**Blackkit – **black tom; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Sootkit – **black tom; member of the resistance; will be a messenger

Elders:

**Nightclaw - **black tom that's completely black except for the very tip of his tail is white; was an accomplie; is Shadowheart's father; not very smart but evil to the bone; is now Shadowheart's advisor

**She-cat Clans**

_BirdClan_

Council:

**Hawkstar – **blue-grey she-cat; member of the resistance; an informer

**Moonspirit – **albino she-cat; understanding and kind of imaginative but very busy most of the time; very observant; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Snowcloud – **white she-cat; cunning; quick-witted, especially with toms; a lookout

Medicine Cat:

**Falconheart – **light grey she-cat; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Ferntail – **light grey she-cat; quiet but not shy; very observant; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Swanwing – **white she-cat; good hunter; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Eagleheart – **mostly white she-cat with brown patches; member of the resistance; sly and quick; sneaky; lead traveler

**Icestream** - silver she-cat with grey eyes; very fast; keen and sly but kind and understanding; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Shrewfur – **mistrustfulblue-grey she-cat with shifty grey eyes; flighty and fretful; not much use to her cause; accomplice

**Whitebrook – **small white she-cat with blue-green eyes; brave and courageous; member of the resistance, a messenger

**Storkfur – **light grey she-cat; member of the resistance; willing to do her best at any task assigned; messenger

**Crowflight – **white she-cat with black stripes; quick and quiet; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Icestorm – **white she-cat with ice-blue eyes; keen to fighting and always lends an ear; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Cottonfur – **a shy she-cat with a slightly curly light grey pelt; quiet except when certain friends are around her, then she can be quite exuberant; a hunter

**Azureskies – **small blue-grey she-cat with sky-colored; sly and quick witted; swift and strong for her size; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Rainstorm – **light grey she-cat with yellow eyes, swift; keen at fighting, hunting, and stalking; head of communication with the outsiders/lead messenger; sly and kind of secretive; member of the resistance; lead messenger

Apprentices:

**Owlpaw –** white she-cat with observant yellow eyes; loud but kind and observant; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Sparrowpaw – **pretty blue-grey she-cat; quick and quiet; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Thrushpaw – **light grey she-cat; good at hunting and stalking; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Webpaw – **white she-cat; ruthless; good fighter; chooses to have no friends; unkind to everyone; Shadowheart's daugher; accomplice

**Skypaw – **white she-cat with grey splotches on her back; keen fighter; good at giving encouragement; very observant; outgoing but quiet when necessary; strong and fast; sly and cunning in a good way; a good hunter; leader of the resistance; the overseer as well as cat who is trained as a traveler and therefore must learn more skills than most others

Kits:

**Swallowkit – **light grey she-cat; sly and observant; member of the resistance; will be a lookout

**Dawnkit – **blue-grey she-cat; swift and brave; member of the resistance; will be a messenger

**Poppykit – **light grey she-cat; strong and good at stalking; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Frostkit – **white she-cat; is going to be a medicine cat apprentice; member of the resistance; will be a herb-giver

Elders:

**Chaffinchpool – **blue-grey she-cat; previous medicine cat; retired because of incurable blindness; member of the resistance; helps present herb-giver

**Nuthatch – **light grey she-cat with dark amber eyes; oldest cat in BirdClan; member of the resistance; advised the temporary leaders of the resistance and now advises Skypaw; an advisor

_FishClan_

Council:

**Goldstar – **golden tabby she-cat; very down to earth and sensible; member of the resistance; an informer

**Morningbrook – **beautiful silver tabby she-cat with river-blue eyes; serious and observant; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Finchwing – **grey she-cat with a white spot on her left shoulder shaped like a wing; brave and sly; member of the resistance; a messenger

Medicine Cat:

**Leafwing – **golden she-cat; all about business; wise but very busy; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Breamheart – **silver and grey tabby she-cat; sweet and kind; good hunter; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Carptooth – **golden she-cat with observant green eyes; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Sharktail – **silver she-cat; fast and strong; sly and sneaky; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Mistyflower – **silver and grey tabby she-cat; excellent at stalking; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Sandfeather – **golden she-cat; cruel and vicious; accomplice

**Sleetstorm – **silver she-cat with white flecks; fast and sly; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Rippleheart – **silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes; trustworthy and kind; eager to help in any way possibly; smart and fast; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Daisyflower – **pale golden she-cat; gentle and wise; member of the resistance; lead lookout

Apprentices:

**Codpaw – **grey and silver she-cat; loud and silly but brave; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Troutpaw – **silver she-cat with bright green eyes; sweet and caring; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Lightpaw – **golden tabby she-cat; quiet but with a good sense of humor; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Raypaw – **grey tabby she-cat; and excellent hunter; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Rockpaw – **silver tabby she-cat; fast and secretive; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Pikepaw – **golden tabby she-cat; swift and obsolete; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Silverpaw – **beautiful silver she-cat; shy around other cats and when speaking of danger but is courageous in the face of real trouble; sister of Skypaw, the leader of the resistance; the most observant cat in FishClan and maybe in all the she-cat clans; member of the resistance; a lookout

Kits:

**Tunakit – **silver tabby she-cat; swift and good-tempered; member of the resistance; will be a messenger

**Duckkit – **pale golden she-cat; amazing stalker; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Roachkit – **grey tabby she-cat; light on her feet and muscular; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Rainbowkit – **beautiful tabby she-cat with alternating gold and silver stripes and white flecks on her pelt; quiet but with a good sense of humor; kind of observant; member of the resistance; will be a lookout

Elders:

**Scaleheart – **silver and grey tabby she-cat; virtually blind and deaf; member of the resistance; now is an advisor

**Graystream – **grey she-cat; wise and motherly; member of the resistance; an advisor

_RabbitClan_

Council:

**Gorsestar – **dark brown she-cat with piercing yellow eyes; fierce and keen to fighting; member of the resistance; an informer

**Volcanoheart – **black she-cat with green eyes; very observant and trustworthy; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Duskfeather – **ebony she-cat with a light, fluffy pelt; amazing at stalking; member of the resistance; a hunter

Medicine Cat:

**Broompelt – **dark brown she-cat with darting green eyes; brilliant but suspicious of nearly all toms; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Tundrafur – **black she-cat whose fur gives off an odd blue-black light during a full moon; quiet and serene; observant; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Cottontail – **pretty brown she-cat with splotches of white; fast and sneaky; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Brownfur – **brown-pelted she-cat with milky blue eyes; good at pouncing; kind and fairly understanding; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Stonepelt – **black she-cat; mistrustful and ignorant; accomplice

**Arctictail – **jet black she-cat with a white stripe across her forehead and a white tail; sneaky, sly, and cunning; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Sparrowflight – **a very hyper she-cat with a brown and white pelt; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Dawnfire – **pretty calico she-cat with amber eyes; outgoing and sly; good with getting information; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Blackheart – **mistreated black she-cat who lost her family; many would say she's mean but get to know her and she can be a great friend; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Nightstorm – **black she-cat with one white paw and amber eyes; sweet and easygoing; keen at fighting; member of the resistance; a hunter

Apprentices:

**Marshpaw – **dark brown she-cat; a bit hostile and not the friendliest cat but good at what she does; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Leafpaw – **pretty dark brown she-cat with black spots shaped like leaves on her pelt; knowledgeable and understanding; will be a medicine cat; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

**Swamppaw – **muddy brown-colored she-cat; observant but has her hyper moments; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Pygmypaw – **very small black she-cat, though swift, strong, and brave; will do anything for her friends; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Scrubpaw – **dark brown she-cat; gentle and smart but not very brave; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Stormpaw – **a smoky black she-cat; sister of Skypaw; strong and fast; very hyper and silly though she can be serious if absolutely necessary; kind; very good at stalking; good at figuring out cats' secrets; trustworthy and can make anyone laugh; one of the best hunters in the forests; member of the resistance; a hunter

Kits:

**Harekit – **brown she-cat with a lighter underbelly, paws, and tail; good at pouncing; member of the resistance; will be a hunter

**Mountainkit – **dark brown she-cat with white at the very tips of her ears and tail and a white muzzle; strong and courageous; member of the resistance; will be a traveler

**Woollykit – **brown she-cat with woolly fur; intelligent and understanding; will be a medicine cat; member of the resistance; will be a herb-giver

Elders:

**Tufttail – **brown she-cat with a fluffy white tail; grouchy at times but mostly kind; member of the resistance; an advisor

**Deerfeather – **dark brown she-cat who twisted her foot badly on the Thunderpath moons ago; quiet and serene; calm and not easily angered; member of the resistance; used to be a medicine cat and herb-giver; an advisor

**Pricklefur - **black she-cat; evil and cunning though virtually blind and deaf; Shadowheart's mother; was an accomplice

_SquirrelClan_

Council:

**Graystar – **brown she-cat with grey stripes; observant and kind; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Heartsong – **tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes and a white tuft of fur on her chest; brave; willing to listen; easily angered by anyone but her friends; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Roseheart – **reddish-ginger she-cat with green eyes; outstanding hunter and a member of the SquirrelClan council; next in line to become leader; member of the resistance; lead hunter

Medicine Cat:

**Whitewhisker – **tortoiseshell she-cat with a white face; kind but easily angered; member of the resistance; a herb-giver

Warriors:

**Redheart – **red she-cat with amber eyes; very observant; member of the resistance; a lookout

**Firepool – **large dark ginger she-cat with long claws and blue eyes; swift, strong, and cunning; fiery; stands up for herself no matter what; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Spiderheart – **dark brown she-cat with a white chest that has thin black lines like a spider's web over it; scheming and vicious; dangerous; accomplice

**Littlesquirrel – **small ginger she-cat; very agile and quick; kind but snaps at you if you annoy her; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Oaktree – **brown she-cat with long claws; very fast; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Flyingheart – **beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat; swift and courageous; kind and caring; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Elmheart – **brown she-cat; good climber; swift and strong; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Stripedpelt – **ginger she-cat with white stripes; sweet but brave and courageous; member of the resistance; a traveler

**Oakleaf – **brown and ginger she-cat; quiet but not shy at all; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Rockleaf – **ginger she-cat with white stripes around her ankles and smoky grey paws; swift and strong; member of the resistance; a hunter

Apprentices:

**Bushpaw – **brown she-cat with milky brown eyes; loud and adventurous; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Giantpaw – **huge ginger she-cat with piercing green eyes; good at fighting; member of the resistance; a hunter

**Palmpaw – **tortoiseshell she-cat with bright green eyes; swift and quiet; kind; member of the resistance; a messenger

**Rabbitpaw – **light brown she-cat; sister of Skypaw; kind and understanding; trustworthy; serene and calm; strong and swift; smart; good at remembering; can get cats to open up if they seem to be hard to the core; tries to find the best in most cats; member of the resistance; a messenger

Kits:

**Dwarfkit – **very small ginger she-cat with piercing green eyes; quiet, calm and serene at times; serious when necessary but can have a good laugh; trustworthy; member of the resistance; will be a traveler

**Applekit – **red she-cat with darting yellow eyes; loud and boisterous; likes to laugh; has a hard time being serious but can be in situations that demand it; member of the resistance; will be a lookout

**Redkit – **red she-cat with laughing green eyes; can be loud or quiet depending on the situation; can't keep a small secret but can keep a big one; member of the resistance; will be a lookout

**Squirrelkit – **ginger she-cat with a white chest and underbelly; serene and calm but ferocious in battle; member of the resistance; a traveler

Elders:

**Roughfur – **brown she-cat with rough, spiky, fur; grouchy but kind; member of the resistance; an advisor

**A/N: Ok, there will be an acknoledgements chapter at the very end that has details like who gave me what name (exactly, like "Thanks to Whateveryournameis for giving me the name Telephonepaw (NOT one of the real names, just so you know), but for now, thanks to Skybreeze, Grace of Masbolle, Stelmaria of the Tigers, Skysong-Brooksilver, Leafpool's Loyalty, Freeheart, Greenpool-Gylfie's Loyalty, Rabbitstorm, and Nagra for all your help with names. **

_**WARNING:**__ SPOILERS IF YOU LOOK AT SHADEDPAW'S DESCRIPTION!!! SO DON'T! (Yah, I know, now everyone will. I'll just go change it...-evil grin-)_


	26. The Sweetrock Cave

**A/N: Ok, I recently decided that I don't like how quickly I have had to have certain things happen in order to finish in the time I described, so I've been doing rewrites. See, most of the rest of my chapters, save about four, were completely Skypaw's POV, and there was quite a bit of stuff that would be much better expressed through someone else's POV. So sorry not to stick to the update schedule, and a new one will be coming soon, but now I hope you'll like the story better.**

_Previously, in __Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story__…_

…Skykit was so tired she could barely lift her head. Rainstorm had spent the day showing her how to perform the many ceremonies of the eight Clans…

…"Congratulations," yawned Stormkit, padding off to bed.

Truthfully, Skykit was looking forward to joining them. After she made sure that the hunting patrol had made it in safely, she loped off towards her own nest…

…. But for now… -she yawned- …she needed some sleep.

…Only seconds later -- literally -- a cat prodded Skykit with her paw…

**And now Chapter 25 of ****Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story**

**­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­**

**---Skykit's POV---**

"We have to get to our regular camp before sunhigh tomorrow," Moonspirit meowed. "That means we must leave now."

_What?!?!_ thought Skypaw. She'd been up since slightly past moonhigh the previous night. She'd been introduced to almost all of the resistance cats. She'd traveled to the Mist Pool, and through the tunnels. Now she had to travel until sunhigh the next day?! She was already practically asleep on her feet! _Calm down,_ she ordered herself. _This can be…um…a test of determination. Yah, that'll work._

Owlpaw padded up to Skypaw, her tail waving softly. "Um, Skypaw? Do you know why Shadowheart is making us leave by tomorrow?"

Skypaw shrugged. "Maybe because he didn't catch us last night?"

"I guess so…but something feels so weird right now…like some_thing_ is watching us." Owlpaw looked wary enough to be believable. Skypaw began to look around. And there was Shadowheart…glaring at them.

_Wait a second…_ Shadowheart's eyes glowed yellow! "Owlpaw, WHATEVER you do, do NOT look over there!" she ordered her friend, turning away herself. _Why is Shadowheart doing that _now_? What threat are we to him while we're _leaving

Owlpaw looked strangely at Skypaw, but heeded her warning and headed towards a newly accumulated pile of fresh prey. Suddenly, Skypaw heard a voice in the bushes - Hawkstar. But who was she talking to?

**---Icestream's POV---**

"I can't thank you enough for coming," Hawkstar purred.

"It's my pleasure," Icestream replied warmly. In order for Skypaw's training to commence, Hawkstar had requested that Icestream travel with BirdClan…but Icestream sensed that it was something more than that. To reach their camp, BirdClan had to travel through a very highly forested area - Shadowheart had forbidden BirdClan and BirdClan alone from crossing the usual way - the way that lead around the woods. There was no real reason yet to be concerned, but Icestream decided that Hawkstar's ulterior motive must have something to do with these woods - something the leader was not telling her. But would it be smart to ask?

Hawkstar was looking around. Suddenly, her gaze stopped on something that Icestream couldn't see, and her eyes widened.

"What is it?" Icestream meowed, leaping quickly and glancing to the place where the leader's eyes rested - to be rewarded with the sight of a tree trunk and the eerie feeling of being watched. She blinked away the sensation - she'd trained all her life to handle this kind of situation, and someone probably was watching her, seeing as she was staring at a tree trunk.

Hawkstar shook her head, but Icestream was able to pick out a look of fear there before the leader regained an unnatural calm. "It was nothing. The tree trunk seemed a bit odd for a moment there. Thank you so much for agreeing to accompany BirdClan. It will be much easier for you to teach Skypaw if you are both in the same place."

"Um…you're very welcome. But tell me more about these woods that we'll be traveling through - have you traveled through them before?" 

Hawkstar seemed not to hear her. "If we travel quickly, Skypaw should still get some sleep and you will be able to start training with her by sunhigh."

"Hawkstar." Icestream tried again. "The woods?"

"Woods?" Hawkstar now seemed confused. "Oh yes, the woods. What about them?"

"Is there anything…unusual about them?"

For less than a split second, horrible fear loomed in Hawkstar's gaze, but in that same second, it was reduced to a dull, blank look. "If there is anything unusual about the woods, it is that they are very thick, which makes it a good place for shelter during the night…especially…" Hawkstar stopped and looked at her paws, her expression appalled - but then, as if something were controlling her, she looked up and continued. "Especially the Sweetrock Cave. It is very habitable and if we take our time, perhaps we could spend the night there." Icestream made a mental note to stay away from the Sweetrock cave.

**---NO POV---**

A shimmering, sparkling oasis was just barely visible. It was a crystalline cave, with thousands of beautiful jewels inside of it. Upon closer inspection, one might notice that there was in fact only dirt in the cave, but the colors in the dirt were reflected on glasslike surfaces to resemble jewels.

Down inside the depths of the cave was a horrible prison -- and a mine. The type of mine used when someone needs materials to build a fortress. A fortress of war.

Walking into the cave, down into the depths, one might be able to glimpse warriors waiting. One might also glimpse the fires behind them that gave them the light they needed. And if one walked further, they might be taken down by Shadowheart's warriors, to face a future in the mines -- mining rocks, rolling boulders uphill, hauling them into place to create a fortress through which Shadowheart would wage his war. This wasn't just a regular Clan rivalry battle. This was a battle where more lives than one hung on the line.

If the slaves tried to escape and lost, their futures would be miserable. And the resistance would still try to save them. Of course they would That was what the resistance did. Saved people. Helped people. Were benevolent. That would be their downfall, according to Shadowheart.

Just that night, he'd pulled the BirdClan leader, Hawkstar, under his control. She'd be able to tell him who the resistance leader was supposed to be…but he suspected Skypaw. His techniques, highly refined as they were, meant nothing to her.

But if he could get his son to earn their trust…and then betray them! Then, and only then, could his plan succeed - but how to go about it was another matter. Shadedpaw's loyalty to either side was questionable, for both sides mistrusted him.

However, Shadowheart had one slight advantage. The resistance thought that all of his cronies were idiotic. And they were…but he was not. He'd known every cat that passed by the boulder. He knew who the future of the resistance was. He didn't know how they'd gotten back into the camp, but that was no matter. He was spreading them out and using ygrkipomagen to gain new spies - spies the resistance wouldn't know about until it was too late.

**A/N: Ooh!!! How do you like that/Don't kill me for making Shadowheart intelligent/ PLZ R&R!! OH yah, read this and PM and email it to people, please, it's very true and very important:**

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!  
  
You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message   
with an attachment entitled 'Invitation,' regardless of who sent it to  
you. It is a virus which opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole  
hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone  
who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason  
why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to  
receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.   
  
If you receive a mail called 'Invitation,' even though sent to you by  
a friend, do not open it. Shut down your computer immediately.  
  
This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by  
Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered  
by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.   
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the  
vital information is kept.  
  
SEND THIS E- MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!  
  
COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND  
IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.

**Remember, R&R!**


	27. Lost to the Darkness

**A/N: Ok, here's the next chapter.**

**There have been some questions about allegiances so let me clarify:**

**If you submitted a character who doesn't appear on the allegiances, please let me know immediately so I can fix it.**

**Also, the submissions for evil characters are not shown in the allegiances (well, some are, but others are not) because many of Shadowheart's cronies are not in the Clans but at his fortress, which is under construction. I'm going to try to post allegiances for each of the Clans (including AshClan and AuraClan) as well as allegiances for those cats who are at the fortress, on my webpage for this series.**

**I've also gotten complaints about the number of different characters. It IS difficult to keep track of, I agree. So if you forget who a character is, go to the allegiances and hold down the control button (ctrl) and then push the 'f' key, which will open a little window that says "find what?" Just type the name of the cat you want to read about and it should find it; contact me if this doesn't work (there may be a spelling error).**

**Anyway, sorry for the really really really long author's note, so there won't be a "previously on HPSS" part. Well, it doesn't really fit with this chapter anyway.**

**Without further ado, here's ****Chapter 26.**

**---No POV---**

The she-cat Clans moved out towards their home. For some reason, no one wanted to spend the night in the forest – except a few. Hawkstar was one of these few. It wasn't always this way. In fact, less than an hour ago, she would have balked at the idea of spending the night in the forest. But now, she was acting strange.

Only Icestream really noticed. And what could she do about strange behavior? For cats acted strange all the time. Strange was in the eye of the beholder.

Meanwhile, Shadowheart sat back admiring his work. Icestream, he'd decided, was much to reasonable to be very concerned, even though she was suspicious. Now all he had to do was lure some of the cats off alone…

**---Skypaw's POV---**

Skypaw had already spoken to Icestream about training schedules. Icestream thought it mandatory to start as soon as the sun rose the following day. So Skypaw wanted to hurry and get through the forest so she'd have a little time to rest.

That's all Skypaw could think about. Sleep. Rest. Sleep. Rest. She had to drag her exhausted paws along the ground at as fas a pace as she could muster.

She noticed shadows in the bushes. Shadows where there were no cats. For a moment, her suspicions were aroused – but she felt something dragging at her consciousness. Something was telling her to think of sleep. Of rest. Of nothing else.

For a second, she tried to resist the thoughts, but she was much too tired to do anything but plod along silently and wish for sleep. Her suspicions faded away and she was practically asleep on her paws as she padded slowly towards an unknown camp.

**---Shadowheart's POV---**

He couldn't control her completely, which made him almost sure that she was the resistance leader. Had she been fully awake, he would have had no control over her. As it was, however, she was very tired and was half asleep on her paws. And so he could control her. Not as much as he would have liked, but it was something.

The second she saw the shadows of his stalking patrol in the underbrush, her suspicions were aroused fully. She began to wake up. But, playing on the fact that she was still too tired to think about it for long, Shadowheart tried to put thoughts of sleep and rest into her head. He tried to tell her that they were all that mattered.

And, though it would probably never happen again, he succeeded. Her suspicions died away. With a full night's rest, she might guess what had transpired. He would never be able to control her again. But once was enough. He'd pried at her memory. And he knew that she was the young leader. Yes, once was certainly enough.

**---Icestream's POV---**

Icestream had made a mental note to stay away from the Sweetrock Cave. However, she had no idea where in the vast forest it was. Hawkstar was leading.

Icestream should have felt uneasy. But she didn't. Something was up tonight. She looked around. The air felt hazy.

Maybe Shadowheart was trying to control Skypaw because she was so tired. And maybe it took a lot of ygrkipomagen, and maybe he used so much that it affected everyone. Yah, that was it.

But for some reason, this didn't worry her. The only thing that worried her was that she wasn't worried. That was bad.

Icestream stopped for a second and closed her eyes. In her mind's eye she saw Shadowheart glaring, his eyes pulsing yellow. She saw the Bone River next to him, throbbing equally. And she saw Frostwing and her kits disappear into the throbbing River.

The hatred for Shadowheart that had been bred into her flared hot and bright. She shook the ygrkipomagen and glared towards Skypaw, where she saw a yellow haze focused. She looked at her paws. How was she going to get him to stop? _Wake Skypaw up._

Icestream looked around. She needed to shove Skypaw in a puddle.

**---Shadedpaw's POV---**

"Stay here," ordered Shadowheart's slick, oily voice.

He hadn't specifically said not to leave camp, but he felt eyes watching him wherever he went. Guards had been set up to make sure no one left.

Shadedpaw saw evil fill his father's eyes as he whispered to his brother and second in command – Adderstrike. Adderstrike grinned almost as evilly as his brother – and they both disappeared into Shadowheart's den.

_That can't be good_, Shadedpaw thought. He knew their target. _Skypaw._ And they wouldn't succeed…right? Unless…unless Adderstrike had ygrkipomagen too…And tired as Skypaw was…Shadedpaw shook his head, refusing to think about what it would mean if Adderstrike had ygrkipomagen. Still, the word slipped into his thoughts. _Doom._

**---Adderstrike's POV---**

Adderstrike focused on the blue-grey she-cat called Sparrowpaw. He didn't like being second-in-command to Shadowheart – he felt that he should be the controller. After all, they both had ygrkipomagen. Oh well, with the rising resistance forces, maybe he _would_ get to lead after all.

He focused on making Sparrowpaw think of how bored she was. He just had to get her to agree with thoughts of boredom…and she did! There. She was his.

**---Sparrowpaw's POV---**

Sparrowpaw felt feelings of boredom not her own. However, she was all too quick to agree. What could be more boring than walking through a dark forest with an unknown incentive to reach her camp before nightfall?

And as she allowed those thoughts of boredom into her head, something changed. She was no longer in control. And for some reason, she was OK with that.

Sparrowpaw felt herself walk up to Hawkstar. She heard herself ask for permission to leave for a while. She gave no reason, but Hawkstar granted permission. And Sparrowpaw felt herself go into the deepest parts of the forest, pulled by some invisible force along an invisible path. Then, before her, stood the mouth to a cave filled with jewels. It was beautiful! More than anything, she wanted to go into it.

No she didn't! Something was controlling her! Visions of slavery passed through her head, like a forgotten dream.

_I like to show my victims what their destiny is before I send them to it_, the voice of Adderstrike whispered. But, like a prophetic dream, Sparrowpaw wouldn't remember this until she was deep inside the cave. Until she was a prisoner. A slave.

"Stop it, Sparrowpaw. Go back to the cats! NOW!" she yelled at herself, but her body wouldn't listen. She felt herself going into the cave. She saw that the jewels were an illusion. But it was too late. She was surrounded.

_Goodbye, freedom_, she resigned herself. It was her last conscious thought outside the cave.

**---Icestream's POV---**

Icestream hadn't noticed Sparrowpaw leaving. She only noticed after Hawkstar yowled "Sparrowpaw had decided to join the outsiders!" And then she knew something was very, very wrong. But what could she do?

**---Rabbitpaw's POV---**

Rabbitpaw watched a dark brown she-cat with web-like stripes over her chest pad over to Bushpaw and begin yelling at her. Rabbitpaw raised her eyebrows and walked closer.

"You little brat! I _told_ you and _told_ you we were leaving, and _told _you and _told_ you not to forget it!" the older cat yelled.

"It's just fresh prey! I can catch you a different vole!" Bushpaw meowed back.

The older cat, Spiderheart, glared angrily and was about to leap at Bushpaw when Rabbitpaw broke in. She loved justice – it was like a mother's milk to her.

"Hey!"

Both cats turned to look at her.

"Why do you need that exact vole?" she asked Spiderheart.

Spiderheart glared crazily. "I don't. But she forgot. She's an ignorant idiot." With that, the odd warrior padded off.

Rabbitpaw turned to see Bushpaw glaring. The brown apprentice started to walk away. "I don't need you to defend me from my mother."

**---Stormpaw's POV---**

"Your mentor will be Blackheart!" Gorsestar had yowled.

Stormpaw looked forward to meeting her mentor. She was a jet-black she-cat who, according to Scrubpaw, wasn't very nice.

Blackheart was a traveler, but for some reason she was going to mentor Stormpaw. Well, there was nothing wrong with that.

After the apprentice ceremonies ended, Stormpaw ran up to her mentor. "Hi Blackheart," she meowed.

Blackheart glanced at her mistrustfully. "Hello."

Stormpaw tried again. "When do we start training?"

"Tomorrow."

"Oh…alright," Stormpaw replied.

There was an awkward silence. Blackheart broke it. "You just gonna stand there? I can't eat with people looking over my shoulder like that."

"Sorry." Stormpaw looked at Blackheart for a second longer before she walked off, much less hyper. She, however, didn't think Blackheart was unfriendly. There had to be something wrong, something that had happened. She could tell, for she'd seen a hint of sadness in the she-cat's eyes that her mentor had been trying very hard to hide. No matter. Stormpaw was easy to talk to. She'd come to even terms with the she-cat, just like she always did. But still…it had been a little odd.

**---Silverpaw's POV---**

Silverpaw padded quietly along the outskirts of the traveling Clan. Every now and then, she'd catch a golden tabby named Lightpaw looking over at her curiously.

Finally, Lightpaw walked over to her. "Silverpaw, right?"

Silverpaw nodded shyly.

"I'm Lightpaw. You're new, aren't you?"

Silverpaw nodded again. She jumped at a noise in the underbrush, and a vole scuttled out. The silver she-cat felt her ears redden.

Lightpaw smiled. "That's OK, it's weird to be new in a place like this. I used to be in RiverClan, you know."

Silverpaw's gaze shot up. "RiverClan?" Suddenly, she felt more comfortable. "I'm from ThunderClan."

"Really? Oh – are you Skypaw's sister?"

Silverpaw nodded. "Are there other…um…regular Clan cats here?"

Lightpaw looked around. "I think so, but I'm not sure. Most of 'em don't want to talk about it. But I did find out that all of these cats have roots in the forest Clans. You ever heard the story of Ravenpaw?"

Silverpaw nodded.

"Well, apparently…well I don't really know what happened, but it was soon after the Clans moved from the old forest that these Clans were formed. And at first, they were all one Clan. It was a regular sized Clan. But then, evil 'joined', you could say. I don't know what happened after that."

Silverpaw could only stare, amazed.

"Surprised?"

"Yah."

Lightpaw smiled again. "Well, do you want to help me find out who's been directly kidnapped from the forest Clans?"

"Sure," Silverpaw purred

"Cool! This'll be fun!" Lightpaw exclaimed happily.

Silverpaw smiled. Perhaps she'd found a friend.

**A/N: So? You like? I hope so, I like this chapter. Are all the different POV's too confusing? Or do you like it? Please say!**

**Oh yah, I can't think of a good name for this chapter, so if you've got one, please tell me in a review.**

**R&R!**


	28. Dream of Freedom

**A/N: Hello, and welcome to the next chapter! I personally really like this chapter, because for one, it only shows two different POV's, but they're all a lot longer than in last week's chapter. Also, I kind of like what the characters are figuring out as the story continues.**

_Previously, in __Hunter and Prey: Sky's Story_…

Do you want to know why the kits were kidnapped? Wait, you already know," he spat. "For scorching. If I am to win, Shadedpaw must scorch the four cats from ThunderClan. And so he will."

Dapplepaw suppressed a nerve shattering hiss.

"And soon we will wage war against your little resistance. All of my cats, the ones on my side, are now in a Clan called PowerClan. How will you fight us, form a Clan of your own? But wait, you can't because you four are the only ones who know what's going on. Too bad," Shadowheart purred much too softly for comfort. "Scum, look at me when I speak to you!"

_and…_

The dark warrior answered without turning around. "Well there are three working 'sections', section A, section B and section C. Section A, which I'm on, does regular mining. We dig rocks out of the darkest passageways, using our claws, paws, and teeth, to drag the rocks to the main chamber. In the main chamber, which is a really large cavern, we take the rocks to the heavily guarded Outside Access Area, or OAA, which is a tunnel leading out of the caves - the only one. Then one of Shadowheart's cronies that isn't being mind controlled and is really on his side will come down and drag the rock back up. Section B, which Lightfire is on, drags the rocks to the site where Shadowheart is building his fortress. Section C, which Crowflight is on, uses thick mud to plaster the rocks onto the fortress, which is like several big walls together. Each has two shifts. I'm on the first shift, so I work in the morning. Crowflight and Lightfire are each on the second shift, so they work in the afternoon, which it is now. And as soon as your shift is over, you are escorted to your 'cell', where you sleep at night and spend half the day, and Shadowheart lifts the ygrkipomagen. You're forced into the cell and a really big boulder is rolled in front of it. It's really horrible, and to eat we get two scrawny mice each. So we aren't just prisoners, we're slaves."

_And now, chapter 27 in HPSS, _Dream of Freedom

* * *

**---Nightstorm's POV---**

_What do you want, Shadowheart?!_ Nightstorm thought viciously. _Why do you thirst for war?_ She glared at the boulder she was digging up as if it could answer her questions. But, of course, it could not. Because it was a rock – cold and hard. If she'd set it rolling, it would have crushed everything in its path, not caring at all, until it ran into a boulder stronger than itself and set the larger boulder rolling. Shadowheart was just such a boulder. He could crush whatever he wanted, and he'd keep doing it, because nobody was strong enough to stop him.

Not even Skypaw. Shadowheart had proclaimed scarcely a day before that he knew. He knew who their young leader was. And he knew how to take her down.

_So what?_ thought Nightstorm. No matter what, Shadowheart would crush the resistance – because the only ones who knew about his plans were trapped underground!

Nightstorm reared back on her hind paws and brought her forepaws down hard on the boulder. It did nothing more than shiver – and the shiver itself was barely noticeable.

_Typical, _Nightstorm thought. The boulder was much stronger than she. The only way to unearth it was to unite all those working with it and get them to work together.

Nightstorm was about to go do just that when an idea began to form – indeed, it was only a ghostly wisp, a vague concept, but in this hopeless place, it was better than nothing.

Not much better, but a little bit.

When a boulder rolled, it took down the things in its path mercilessly, without giving them any time. For if rocks could truly move, and somehow they got wind that a boulder was to roll, they could have united to become a force greater than the boulder that was oh-so-ready to plow them down, and they could've stopped it. All they would've needed was enough time to band together.

Eventually, the resistance would get word of Shadowheart's plot. Nightstorm's cool inner self demanded "How?! How will they find out? Who's going to tell them? You?!", but she pushed its voice away. She couldn't let herself think of the 'ifs'.

_So,_ thought Nightstorm, _if they somehow found out, they could unite to become a boulder bigger than Shadowheart. All they need is enough time._ And Shadowheart's fortress was part of his master plot. If its building was delayed, so would be the plot in its entirety.

Shadowheart seldom used ygrkipomagen on the prisoners anymore – he felt that he had no need. _And there,_ thought Nightstorm, _is his one mistake._

And any mistake, no matter how small, was a window of opportunity. True, Fate had locked all of the doors that could let them out, but Opportunity was opening its window.

One slip-up was all it took.

Nightstorm did not get others to help her get the boulder out. Because that would be faster. And in this case, faster was not better by any means.

Plus, she still needed to work out a couple more details.

**---Sparrowpaw's POV---**

_Sparrowpaw was tired of working. Tired of giving in. Tired of being controlled by Shadowheart. She'd rallied all of the slaves and got them together to fight Shadowheart._

"_So, it's come to this," Shadowheart spat icily._

"_Yep," Sparrowpaw answered bravely. "You cannot control us, Shadowheart! We won't let you! And your plan WILL FAIL!"_

_Anger glinted in Shadowheart's eye for a split second before he yowled to his cats, who ran towards the slaves, ready to fight._

_Sparrowpaw unsheathed her claws. And let out a yowl. "Ready?! Let's take him down! Come on, let's go!"_

_She shrieked a battle cry that was taken up by the rest of the slaves as they pelted towards Shadowheart's force._

_The two sides clashed amid screeches and screams. Shadowheart himself leapt towards Sparrowpaw._

_The blue-grey apprentice ducked and rolled out of the way as Shadowheart hit the ground. She moved quickly so that she had a large boulder at her back._

_Shadowheart spat at her before running towards her again. "You think you can go against me and leave with your life? Well think again!" he hissed, laughing maliciously._

_With a grim smile, Sparrowpaw moved in during the split second that Shadowheart's neck was exposed…and clamped her teeth into it. She heard his yowl of fury and felt his claws sink into her stomach._

_  
She didn't cry out, but held on. Held on, that is, until the pain in her stomach became too great and she had to let go. Both she and the evil black tom retreated for a second to nurse their wounds, but soon the battle was back on._

_Shadowheart cuffed Sparrowpaw over the head with unsheathed claws. She came down hard on one of his paws and felt grim satisfaction when she heard it give away with a crack. Shadowheart screeched and opened a gash above her eyes._

_Sparrowpaw didn't lose her cool, despite the pain. She dug her claws into Shadowheart's chest and scraped them downwards, cutting deep gashes._

_She felt the blood –her own blood- running into her eyes. She shook her head to clear her vision and saw Shadowheart running at her again, with murder in his eyes._

_Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and Sparrowpaw could hear the beating of her heart and Shadowheart's as she rolled quickly, ignoring the pain she felt._

_She got under Shadowheart as he leapt and jumped upwards, slicing her claws into his underbelly. And, in the seconds that followed, his heart stopped beating._

_She, Sparrowpaw, a mere apprentice, had killed the controller!  
_

_The rest of Shadowheart's cats, shocked at the loss of their leader, scattered and ran. And Sparrowpaw lead the former slaves outside, where they disassembled Shadowheart's fortress of war with glee._

_Sparrowpaw looked out over the horizon, her should-have-been deadly wounds still aching horribly, but they didn't matter. Because they were free._

A banging on the rocks woke Sparrowpaw and she pulled herself to her paws. "Time to get working, Scum-for-brains!" spat Blackclaw, laughing.

With a sigh, Sparrowpaw forced herself to walk out into the mining area, her mind still relishing what she'd dreamt about freedom.

_Freedom has never tasted so sweet as now,_ she thought, _now when it has been ripped away._

Sparrowpaw sighed. _I wish I could do that. I wish I were a hero…but I'm too scared._

She shook her head and looked at her paws, forcing herself to relinquish all hope. For what hope was there?

**Little did either Nightstorm or Sparrowpaw know that Nightstorm's idea was the beginning of something bigger – something that **_**might just work.**_

* * *

**A/N: So, how'd you like it? Plz plz plz R&R!!**


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